Nine-Tail Youkai
by Candlehead Marina
Summary: The next heiress to the kingdom in the youkai world has been accused of killing a thousand of the population. With escaping to the human world as her final option, she met a certain Level 5 who can see her. Will the meeting of this Level 5 save her from her predicament? AU. MikotoxKuroko.
1. Kousaten - Crossing

**REVISED: 2013/7/10**

* * *

_In a dark forest, leaves rustled as the stomping feet echoed. Beings wearing golden armored stylish samurai outfit as their burning hands and faceless face glowed in the darkness as they ran to chase someone._

_"There she is!"_

_An armored samurai who had a blue flame, yelled. Those who heard his voice looked at him and pointing to his left, pointing to the direction where "she" had gone to. They continued their chase and saw a white nine-tailed animal running away from their direction._

_"You can't get away!"_

_Blue flames surrounded the samurai's body and shifted its form to an adult eagle. His wings opened marvelously as he soared in his best speed and caught up with the fox._

_He knew what this animal he and his companions were chasing, a nine-tailed fox. The fox noticed this and opened her tails similar to a circular shield. The tips of her tails conjured a small violet flame and hurled it at the eagle above her._

_Of course, an eagle's eyes was always sharp. The eagle flew sideways as it continue to evade the nine-tailed fox's attacks on him. After the barrage of attack, he prepared his momentum and launched downwards; shifted his position as he thrust his talons at the fox as he launched towards her._

_Just as his attack was near the escaping fox, she jumped further as she avoided his attack and ran further away from the eagle's sight._

* * *

Academy City.

It has been known for its superiority in technology. Boasting with 20 to 30 years of advancement.

Having 2.3 million of population containing 80% of different students from all levels, they aimed to give these students powers known as "ability." The remaining 20% consists of adults who were assigned to be a teacher, a shop owner, a scientist or something else different.

What is an ability? Taking from the Schrodinger cat's experiment, anyone could guess whether the cat was alive or dead by their Personal Reality. Personal Reality is called to be the basis of every esper, or ability user.

Not everyone can obtain an ability. Some parts of the city had Skill-Outs residing. Skillouts were classified Level 0 who had given up hope to obtain the so-called power. Their tagline was to protect the weak from an esper; but some of them had a grudge, so no one was sure if they were actually protecting them or harming them.

Now, a middle school girl was chasing a delinquent in the sidewalks of District 7.

'W-What's with her!?' The delinquent thought frantically. 'Everytime she's around, everything starts to become colder!'

By chance, he encountered a dark alley and sharply turned towards it and entered, hoping to escape the esper who was chasing him. Noticing that her footsteps wasn't audible anymore, he sighed and leaned down on the wall, catching his breath.

"Judgment desu."[1]

The chilly sensation attacked his skin again, and shivered down on his spine. He looked in the alley's darkness to see the same girl who was chasing him.

"H-How long you were here...?"

The girl only gave him a smile before she raised her right hand and a cold mist came out of it. "Just now. I had someone track you. You're charged of assault and harrasment. Now please give up before I freeze you."

He couldn't resist more as the girl was ready for her attack, which scared him as he realized she was a Cryokinesist. He raised his hands as he gave up and admitted the charges bestowed on him. The Judgment girl merely lashed out the cuffs and placed it on his wrist.

* * *

_The armored samurais kept running, searching for the nine-tailed fox. The fox had outsmarted them. While their eagle companion almost captured the fox, the fox had a faster reaction and kicked him using her hind legs at the last minute, hitting the eagle on his chest. The eagle lost his balance in midair and landed on the ground, his chest portion aching from the kick._

_In the depths of the woods, the nine-tailed fox was alone. She looked around her surroundings as she make sure her pursuers were not tailing her. Thankfully, the fox did not detect any pursuer hiding from her sight and sat on all fours. Concentrating at the matter on hand, she contemplated what was happening right now._

_Why was she being chased? What was this accusation she kept hearing about? 1,000 of their population? She did not know anything about this incident. Was it because of someone else who had a grudge against the ruler? It had been like this for hours and she still could not find the mastermind._

_The fox's ears twitched as she heard heavy footsteps coming from her right. They're here, she thought. The fox stood and moved slowly so she could escape from them. Unfortunately, she accidentally stepped on a broken branch and snapped on the force of the paw._

_"I heard something around here! Look for it! It must the heiress trying to escape!"_

_That was bad, the fox thought. She quickly shifted and ran to the opposite direction from where the voices came from. Escaping without any sound was her forte, but this time she was very unfortunate._

* * *

"CHASER!"

At the park, a loud thud reverberated, followed by a rolling sound of metal.

A 14 year old middle school girl lowered her right leg. She bent down and picked up the can from the can retriever of vending machine.

"Mi-Misaka-san... You should stop wearing shorts under your skirt..."

The same middle school girl who kicked the machine coughed in response. "Kyouko! Where were you looking!?"

Kyouko sighed. "It's embarassing for Tokiwadai's Ace to act something like this; even if I don't mind..."

Kyouko, Ajime Kyouko, is a first year middle school student attending the prestigious Tokiwadai Middle School. Her light blue hair was tied up at both sides of the head by a thin ribbon. She is currently a member of Judgment 177th Branch along with her colleague Uiharu Kazari.

Misaka Mikoto is one of the only seven Level 5s in Academy City. Her ability is "Electromaster". She can detect any electrical signals around her, giving no blind spots. She is also the well-known Railgun; using arcade coins as her ammunition.

At Tokiwadai, Mikoto is called Tokiwadai's Ace due to her Level 5 status and consistent high grades.

"It's a matter of comfort." Mikoto retorted defensively. "Come on, let's go before Uiharu-san and Saten-san gets worried."

Mikoto and Kyouko walked from the park to Joseph's Restaurant.

When they arrived at the restaurant, they looked around to search for their other two friends. At the corner of Kyouko's eye, she noticed a waving hand and looked at the owner. She smiled and told Mikoto, pointing to the table that their two friends occupied and went to that table.

"Good afternoon, Uiharu-san and Saten-san." Kyouko greeted.

"Ajime-san!" Saten exclaimed. "I heard it from Uiharu! You're really great handling delinquents!"

"Saten-san..." Kyouko spoke nervously. "It was nothing difficult, really..."

Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears. "It doesn't matter! Your way of arresting them is like they'll be in for a torture!"

A waitress approached them, asking for their orders. "Jumbo parfait!" Uiharu said. While the other three only ordered for milk tea. The waitress told them to wait for a few minutes and walked away.

"Hey, I've read another popular urban legend!" Saten said.

"Those again, Saten-san?" Kyouko asked in a bored tone. "You should stop reading about it."

"As the only Level 0 in our group," Saten paused as she put her right hand on her chest proudly, "It is my duty."

"That was a bit unnecessary..."

"Anyway," Saten pulled out her cell phone. "I've read this urban legend about things that not everyone can see."

"That's it?" Uiharu asked. "That could be done by the cameras in case of an esper who can turn themselves invisible."

"That's not the case, Uiharu." Saten looked at her phone and read the article, "They said that they're the only ones who can see them and the other people asked them if they're crazy... or something like that."

"So, they're like spirit or ghost?" Mikoto asked, catching up to the discussion.

"That's so unscientific, Saten-san." Kyouko chastised.

The waitress approached them as she held the tray with a glass of parfait and three milk tea, placing it on the table one by one, ending with Uiharu's Jumbo parfait.

As the waitress walk away, Uiharu gleamed at the mere sight of her Jumbo parfait and grabbed the spoon.

"Itadakima-"

Her phone rang and was cut-off from enjoying her parfait. She pouted as she grabbed her phone and answered it. "Hello?"

"Ahh... Yes. We're in a family restaurant right now... Yes. Understood."

The person in the other line hung up and Uiharu kept her phone, saddened that they have another Judgment duty just after receiving the Jumbo parfait.

"Another duty?" Kyouko asked.

"Yes." Uiharu nodded. "Konori-senpai told us to go on a patrol until 15:00."

"That long? It's only 12:00 and we're told to patrol for three hours; we only receive cases involving delinquents."

"Well, Konori-senpai also told me about the repeated case of 'something people cannot see'."

"Please don't tell me that the urban legend is true..." Kyouko pleaded, standing up as Uiharu did the same. "I'm sorry, you two," She said, gesturing to Mikoto and Saten. "But we'll have to do our duties as Judgment. Don't worry, it's only patrol though."

"It's okay, Kyouko. I and Saten-san can manage ourselves." Mikoto assured.

"If that's the case, then we're off." Kyouko and Uiharu left the said restaurant, leaving Saten and Mikoto by themselves.

* * *

_After escaping, the fox found herself alone in the forest. She did not know how long she was away from her home. If she tried to walk back to the palace, there's a chance that her pursuers will capture her. Staying in the forest did not help. So, she only had one solution in mind._

_Crossing to the other world was the only way to hide from them._

_But, it was considered taboo among them. If they had tried so, they'll be considered fugitive and receive a horrible punishment._

_The fox was covered in violet flame and transformed. Her appearance was a thirteen year old girl. She wore a violet yukata with flower decoration on the lower part. Long auburn hair that reached her waist. She had auburn feline eyes and 2.5 meter nails on both fingers and toe as her 'claws'._

_'As long as I'm safe from them...' The human-fox thought. She looked at her right hand and clenched to fist. Her family told her that crossing to the human world is a forbidden act and must not be crossed. 'What's the use of this power if we cannot even make use of it?'_

_'Taboo or not, I must escape from this situation!'_

_She pushed her right leg backwards and bent her back forward. Her right hand was glowing in purple and slashed the air, creating a rift enough for a human to pass through. She looked around cautiously and with hesitation, entered the rift._

* * *

The same rift opened in an alley of District 7 of Academy City. There, the same human-fox girl from the other world exited. The rift closed. She looked around the area she was in. It was dark and narrow. There was light just beyond her. She slowly walked and the light kept getting stronger.

She soon finally exit the alley and was surprised how advanced the human world is. During her early days, her parents had told her about how advanced the humans are. Ranging from their skills to their ability to invent things for their benefit and so on.

Now she finally saw the human world with her own eyes, she can finally explore it without having to use an item from her world.

She approached a random stranger and poked into his shoulder.

No answer.

Poke.

No answer.

Poke poke poke.

No answer.

She sighed. Just as those guys said from her world. Only selected humans can see them. After all, they're youkai. Spirits of the other world that can't be seen by ordinary eyes.

Her ears twitched as she heard two female voices not from afar.

"This patrol is getting tiring..."

"Uiharu-san, only an hour left Please get a hold of yourself."

"Unlike Ajime-san, I'm not very athletic."

"As much as I like to rest, no. We're in a patrol and we can't slack off, incidents happen anytime, anywhere."

As the two were getting further away from her, they voices started to lower until she couldn't hear them. She wondered what kind of patrol they were in and for what reason they were doing it.

She only shrugged and continued to explore Academy City.

* * *

_Time: 18:30_

The human-fox's stomach growled loudly. She hadn't eaten anything over the course of the chase from the other world and the exploration of the human world. She couldn't find any food that could satisfy her stomach. After all, not a single human she encountered could see or hear her. She went inside an alley sat on a closed dumpster in fetal position, thinking of an idea how she could satisfy her stomach.

Cutting her trance of thoughts, she heard multiple voices, all of which were deep and rough.

"Ohh~ a Tokiwadai student!"

"She must be a rich girl!"

"Come on, it's dangerous out here so we'll take you home."

"Well, we don't know if you can even get to your home safe..."

"Come on now, don't ignore us. This is one in a million chance you get to be with us!"

The human-fox eavesdropped as she focused on their lines. She realized that whoever the girl they're trying to invite, it did not sound nice.

Then she heard a low female voice.

"Really... Idiots sure are hard-headed..."

She could hear a spark let out.

'Sparks? I'm fairly sure humans don't emit any kind of sparks or any kind of powers on their own...'

Her trail of thoughts were cut again as she saw bluish white electricity outside the alley. She heard thuds and the groans from male humans.

'As far as I know, only Raijin could emit that kind of power... I have to check it.'

The human-fox jumped out of the dumpster. Looking outside the alley, determined who emitted electricity and knocked out those unfortunate people.

Just as she had the first step, she felt her body giving up and knelt down. Her mind couldn't think of anything else and fell down unconsciously.

* * *

Mikoto was annoyed again. Those idiot thugs wanted to hit on her again and again. Different people in the same place. Even if they know or not know that she can fry them as black as their ambitions, they sure are hard-headed for their own sake.

'Just like that idiot.' She added in her thoughts.

Thankfully, Mikoto didn't encounter that certain idiot once today. If she had, she would challenge him again and again. She still had to discover what was behind his right hand.

She looked at the fried thugs in front of her and walked back to her dormitory. The Dorm Mistress must be looking for her and Kyouko must be worried sick since her patrol ended hours ago.

As soon as Mikoto passed by an alley, she heard a loud thud.

* * *

**A/N:** And here it is. The first chapter to... uhh, whatever possessed me to do this FF. I had this idea for a week now. I just couldn't get it out of my head.

If anyone's wondering what kind of setting this is... It's an AU with Supernatural in the mix. Yes, I replaced Kuroko with an OC. Don't worry, she's not overpowered and doesn't affect the plot. She's just there as a Judgment member, Mikoto's roommate, and those description that Kuroko has to Mikoto.

Oh and, don't forget to Review~ It's my only motivation to keep writing!

[1] - Sorry for writing it in Romaji. But it means "This is Judgment." or "I'm from Judgment." I only typed it like that to show the difference in Kyouko and Kuroko's speech pattern. Since our canon lesbian character uses "desu no", which make her sentences very polite. Kyouko only uses "desu" which is polite.


	2. Deai - Encounter

Mikoto wasn't sure how to react to that sound. Someone had somehow fainted for whatever reason. Is it an enemy? A new ally? Or something else together?

Not wanting to ignore what happened there, and also because of the curiosity, Mikoto entered the alley.

But she didn't expect what's in front of her.

True, someone had pass out. But Mikoto noticed that there was something _very_ different from this someone. According to the mangas she had been reading, a human that had tails from the end of their spine and ears on top of their heads aren't considered very normal. In her current situation, due to the slim figure and the long hair, she had presumed it to be a girl. But the white nine-tails from her back, she thought of the nine-tailed fox from the legends.

"W-What is... this..." She stuttered. There was no denying that this situation is very awkward.

The two protruding ears from the hair twitched, hearing Mikoto's shaky words.

'It moves!?' Mikoto screamed mentally. Even though it was a scary thought, she found it cute otherwise.

'No! I couldn't be distracted by how cute this scene is!' She thought in determination and sharpened her look. 'This person might be a new enemy, so I have to be careful...'

The other groaned and looked up, and saw something blurry. It was someone a year older than her physically. The blur slowly becomes sharp and saw a surprised face looking at her.

"You..." She spoke up weakly.

"...What?" Mikoto asked, her mind still wondering at the figure in front of her.

"You... can see me?" The other asked.

'Now she's asking if I can see her!?' Mikoto screamed yet again in her mind. 'Is this some kind of horror movie? What should I do? Say that I can see her? What if I introduce her to Kyouko, Uiharu-san and Saten-san and tell me I'm introducing someone in thin air? Would Saten-san say that the-'

Her panic thoughts were cut off by a loud growl on the human-fox on the ground.

"I'm hungry..." Was the response, and she looked up at Mikoto. "Feed me."

"F-Feed you?" Mikoto repeated. "What kind of food do you eat?"

"Anything." The other replied. "As long as it's delicious."

That wasn't a definite answer, Mikoto thought. Sighing, she said: "Alright. Just wait for me here, ok?"

The other nodded. Mikoto went out of the alley and went to the nearest convenience store she can find.

Her mind was still dwelling at the girl she found in the alley earlier, especially the first question. What did she mean by "see"? Did she mean if she can see her physically without problems? Calling back to the latest urban legend Saten-san said during their bonding in the restaurant, was it true? Beings that only certain people can see...

She picked up two cans of tuna in the seafood section and went for the drinks and picked up a bottle of water. After checking all the items needed to feed to the one who requested, she went for the counter and gave the items to the cashier and scanned the three items. He showed the total price to Mikoto and she pulled out her wallet from her pocket, giving the exact money to him. He finally put the items in the plastic and gave it to her.

Mikoto exited the convenience store and walked back to the direction where she left the other girl in the alley. She finally reached the destination and saw the other was leaning on the alley wall. The other looked at Mikoto, who only offered the plastic to her. She smiled at the action and fixated herself, sitting properly. The Electromaster knelt down and removed the items from the plastic, and realized something.

"Oops, I forgot to buy a can opener." She said.

"No," The human-fox quickly spoke up and stopped Mikoto from doing anything. "I already caused you trouble, so there's no need to buy a can opener just for this."

"But, how will you open that?" Mikoto wondered, staring at the can of tuna the other is holding.

"With this." The girl only replied as she used the sharp nail on her index finger, effectively cutting through the sealed can without problem.

Of course, Mikoto was amazed on how the other cut through the edge of the can as if it was a paper. There was an eerie silence between the two of them. Mikoto was staring at the other, who was using her hands to pick a piece of tuna and put in her mouth, tasting the said food.

"Hmm..." The girl hummed, chewing on the food and swallowed it. "It's delicious."

"Y-Yeah..." Mikoto responded, agreeing on how delicious tuna is. But, there are a lot of questions she had in mind, and hopes the other could answer all of them.

"Oh yeah, what's your name?" She asked, hoping to not sound impolite.

"Shirai Kuroko." The girl simply answered as she picked up another tuna and ate it. "Destined 11th Heiress of the Kyuubi Kingdom of the youkai world."

'I met a royal spirit!?' Mikoto thought, even more surprised than before, it doesn't help that the other is a nine-tailed fox. "Why were you asking if I can see you?"

Shirai paused and looked at the Electromaster. "When I first arrived here, no one can feel my presence nor see me. I was making sure in case you were looking at me."

No one can feel? No one can see? Mikoto made sure she heard what Shirai said was right in her ears. There's no doubting that this is somehow connected to the urban legends that Saten told to them. After all, Level Upper and the Stripping Woman were real incidents from the urban legends; or even the rumors about certain clones who looked exactly like her. But a rumor about something science can't explain...

"I hope I'm not being a bother, but, why were you here?" She finally asked, carefully choosing her words.

"I was being chased." Shirai replied sadly, after swallowing the final tuna in the first can. "I was being accused of murdering 1,000 of my world's population that I don't even know about. I mean, I was just playing with some children until certain troops appeared and hunted me."

Now Mikoto felt bad for asking. "Oh... Sorry for asking." Was only her response.

Shirai looked at Mikoto. "Now it's my turn to ask." She said, picking up the second can and opened it.

Shirai asked Mikoto some questions to what it felt like interrogation as if Mikoto was charged in a case. The human-fox asked the name of the Electromaster, the city they're living in and what makes this city special... Which Mikoto answered all of it.

"No wonder... I thought it was Raijin who did the discharge." Shirai said.

"Raijin?" Mikoto repeated. During her younger days, she had read and known Japan's mythological creatures. One mythological creature she had her interest was Raijin, the God of lightning, thunder and storms. The reason she had favored Raijin over the others is because of his power being similar to hers - they have powers over lightning, or electricity. As she grew up and finally taken to Academy City, she had considered them as her childhood experience.

"Yes. I thought I could meet with him again after 25 years."

"25 years?" Mikoto was surprised. To her eyes, Shirai only looked like a thirteen year old girl, with looks of a first year middle grade student. "Just how old are you...?"

"95 years old." Shirai simply replied. "We youkais live for a very long time. Our growth is very different from humans. If we reach a certain age, our bodies changes its rhythm. Whether we can stay young or old is our choice."

Mikoto could only stare in awe as Shirai finally finished the second can and picked the bottle of water, opening it and started drinking the contents. Soon Mikoto stood up, prompting for Shirai to stop drinking and look at the other girl.

"Well, it's been a long day and I must get back to my dorm before the Dorm Manager snaps my neck." Mikoto said, and turned around to the direction of the street and started to walk away -

Before a tug on her skirt stopped her.

She turned to Shirai, who only gave her the frown and sad look. "Please don't leave yet..." The human-fox pleaded. "If you're going to leave then please let me go with you. Seeing that you're the only one who can see me and you have the power to protect me..."

The Electromaster wasn't sure how to respond to a plea. She rarely get any pleas from anyone she was with anyone or has battled with. Shirai looked so powerless. The chase she was in must be a way for abduction or in the worst case will get her killed just because of a petty accusation she wasn't even involved of.

Knowing that Mikoto had no choice, she said: "Alright. But promise me to not make any ruckus, even if they can't see you. You need to keep yourself behave while I'm busy, ok? I don't want myself to look like an idiot when I scold you."

To what it seemed like a "yes" to Shirai, she replied with a vigorous "Yes!" and smiled happily, finally found someone who will be her companion to keep her safe from those troops who are still searching for her.

The two stood up and exited the alley in silence. Mikoto walked to Tokiwadai's Dorm's direction while Shirai was only following, with her eyes looking around on the closed stalls and buildings around them.

As soon as they arrived their destination, Mikoto gulped as she walk for the Dorm's door. She could already feel the dreadful presence of the Dorm Manager behind the door. Knowing whatever path she may take, it will always end up her neck being snapped with Kyouko witnessing.

She opened the door, and slowly creaked. She had already expected who is front of her and true to her words - it was the Dorm Manager, giving her the "it's nagging time" look under those shiny glasses and crossed arms combined with foot tapping. Then there was also Kyouko, who was ordered by the Dorm Manager to make her see the usual, more like cruel, punishment to those who disobey the rules.

"What are you doing so late out in the evening, Misaka?" The Dorm Manager asked with a vicious tone that sent shivers to Mikoto's spine.

"Uhh... Well, I was..." Mikoto tried to think up some excuse, but nothing comes up in mind.

"You do very well know the rules in this dorm, right?" The Dorm Manager's hands started to hold on Mikoto's shoulder and head, waiting for the Electromaster's reply.

"Yes..." Mikoto was too scared to even say anything else and -

_CRACK_

* * *

_The next day..._

"Misaka-san..." Kyouko called as she put her vest on. After the neck snapping incident, the two girls (plus the youkai) quickly retreated to their dorm room - 208 - and massaged the victim's neck in order for her to sleep without the unusual feeling in the hurt spot. "Just what did you do yesterday evening? When I arrived here, you weren't here and I discovered that you were still out."

Mikoto was already done preparing herself for school and only sat on her bed with an unseen Shirai helping her heal the sore neck. "I was just out, that's all. Just as I was about to go back, those usual thugs wanted to hit on me again so I fried them."

Kyouko sighed. "I just wish Misaka-san would follow the rules about the curfew once in a while."

"You're too nice." Mikoto retorted.

Kyouko grabbed her school bag from her desk and walked in front of the Electromaster. "Come on, let's go to school together."

"Ahh, that..." Mikoto paused. "You can go ahead. There's something I need to do. I'll catch up with you later."

"...Okay..." Kyouko slowly replied. Knowing Mikoto, the older girl had her own problems to which she couldn't even tell her kouhai about it. "Please take care of yourself, Misaka-san."

With that, Kyouko left the room quietly, leaving Mikoto and Shirai on their own.

"Is there somewhere else you want to go?" Mikoto asked, looking at the other, who had finished massaging the neck and let go, sitting beside her.

"Not really. I just want to be Misaka-san's companion." Shirai said with a bright smile on her face, while wriggling those fox-ears.

Mikoto couldn't help but to feel melted inside, the expression was too cute for her to handle.

Then she quickly remembered that she has to catch up with Kyouko. She quickly grabbed her school bag and head for the door. "We should get going now, I need to catch up to Kyouko."

* * *

Meanwhile, at Sakugawa Middle School, Uiharu was looking at her PDA, checking the weather for today. Lately, the prediction for the weather has been either accurate or inaccurate. She didn't know the reason why it has been happening, since the Tree Diagram couldn't make a simple mistake as predicting the weather forecast for the rest of the month.

Moments later, as she was not paying attention to her surroundings, her skirt was flipped from behind.

"KYAAAA~"

In the classroom, Uiharu sat on her designated seat as she put down her bag on her table, with a happy-go-lucky Saten standing beside her.

"Uiharu!" Saten called the annoyed flower decorated girl.

"Mou, Saten-san," Uiharu spoke up with an annoyed tone. "I always remind you to not flip someone's skirt."

"Come on, Uiharu, you always say that to me." Saten said. "Our friendship will be deeper if I keep doing that." She added as she puffed her fist to her chest and nodded with vigor.

"That's not what I meant..." Uiharu mumbled instead, giving up trying to reason to make the other girl stop flipping her skirt.

Their teacher entered the room, which made students went back to their own seats. The teacher put the book on top of the table and started talking about things related to ability development.

* * *

The four girls are once again in the Joseph's Coffee and Restaurant, doing their usual bonding time. Of course, Uiharu and Kyouko have to go to 177th Judgment Branch for their duties.

"By the way, Saten-san," Mikoto spoke up as she looked at Saten. "Any news about that urban legend?" She asked curiously.

As if someone threw a grenade at them, the remaining three looked at the Electromaster with an obvious surprise. "Misaka-san, are you really interested in that kind of nonsense urban legend?" Kyouko asked, as if the world had ended for her.

Mikoto tensed up, she shouldn't have asked about it... "W-Well, anything in the urban legends are true, right? I don't see why that urban legend would be a lie."

"I'd believe the Stripping Woman a real urban legend rather the 'things you can't see'." Kyouko said as the waitress came with their orders and placed them in front of the girls.

To Mikoto, the latest urban legend has been declared real. She looked at the counter, with a happy Shirai roaming the place like a five year old. While they were at school, her first subject was a surprise quiz; they were not allowed to touch their bag. Shirai, being bored she was, had disturbed the Electromaster by making cute faces and wriggling those too cute ears as she looked at the paper her companion was answering from where her bag was located of all places. Mikoto couldn't resist the too damn cute face, wanted to pet her, but got scolded for trying to reach her bag.

The next situation she was in was Shirai making noise in the classroom and even teasing the other by playfully blocking the teacher's writings on the board. She couldn't resist her frustration to beat the youkai up and angrily called her teacher that she wants to go to the washroom. The teacher, being clueless, immediately let her go. Mikoto grabbed the shaking Shirai, who was in front of the class, which she was relieved that she didn't have to go elsewhere to secretly grab and went to the washroom; started scolding and almost electrocuted the youkai before she realized that they were in school.

That was the least of her problems, though. Right now, Shirai went back to their table and was whining loudly that she was very hungry.

'Can she stop acting like a five year old!?' She thought as she grabbed her cup of tea and immediately drank them. She slammed the cup down on the saucer, to which miraculously didn't break from the force and left the table to go to the counter.

The remaining girls were speechless from the anger that Mikoto had. "Ajime-san, is something wrong with Misaka-san?" Uiharu asked.

"That's what I'd like to know too." Kyouko replied with sadness in her tone as she sipped her cup of tea slowly. "Lately, she has been quiet and wanted to be alone. Once I passed by the second years from her class, I keep hearing that she was having fits of anger and they don't even know the reason why."

"Ahh!" Saten exclaimed. "Maybe, she was having this feeling of possession from those 'things you can't see'!"

"Those again, Saten-san." Kyouko said, disappointed. "The first was already weird enough. This is a scientific city, not an occult city."

Saten picked up her phone from the pocket and started typing. "Look at this, Ajime-san. Here's most of the information about the current urban legend." She gave her phone to Kyouko, then started to scroll down to the comments section. A lot of comments were about denying their existence, saying it was full of crap; only few comments said that they had acknowledged their existence. One comment who had believed their existence called them youkai. There was also a comment that the person had been possessed by it and was scared of going out of its house because that certain person could see them.

"Hmm..." Kyouko hummed and thought about the comments. Being an urban legend, she wasn't sure if all those comments were credible. "I'm not sure about it. I won't believe it until I see one."

Mikoto returned to their table. She was holding a paper bag in her right hand. She sat beside Kyouko and placed the bag on her side, swiftly looking at Shirai then at the paper bag before she looked at them with a calm expression.

"Misaka-san, is something wrong?" Kyouko asked with an obvious worry in her voice.

"Eh?" Mikoto piped up as she looked at Kyouko. "Ah, well, it's nothing. It's just because of stress."

"What is that paper bag for?" Saten asked, eyeing the said bag.

"It's for _someone_." True to Mikoto's words, that someone is now under their table, who had quickly grabbed the paper bag to eat the pastries that Mikoto bought.

"Eeh~" Saten hummed playfully. "Maybe it's for that rumored boyfriend again?"

Mikoto blushed furiously. "N-N-No!" She shrieked. "I won't buy anything for that idiot!"

"It sounds suspicious." Kyouko chipped in. "If it's not for that boy, then who?"

Mikoto froze up upon asking for whom are the pastries for. She couldn't outright say 'It's for the hungry youkai we're with right now. So, yeah'. She can imagine that they're going to tell her - especially Saten-san - that she has been a victim of the urban legend and might even cast something that would sway the spirits away that would make them look like idiots.

Either way, she has experienced situations like this so it became easy for her to think up some excuse. "It's for those children at the playground."

"That's so nice of Misaka-san." Uiharu clasped her hands. "Who knew she's going to give those sweets to those children!"

"That's nothing, Uiharu-san..." Mikoto spoke up as her voice became low, embarrassed.

"Come on, let's give those sweets to those children!" Saten-san said with enthusiasm.

Kyouko and Uiharu nodded to Saten, excited. "Yeah, they'll be happy!"

Now Mikoto is in another trouble again. She knows she can escape to this problem soon. The four girls stood up, and Mikoto reached out for the paper bag but instead grabbed nothing.

"Eh?"

The three looked at the fake perplexed Mikoto. "The paper bag... is not here..."

"Are you sure it's really on your side?" Uiharu asked worriedly.

"There's no doubt about it." Mikoto said. "Oh well, I can just buy another one for them another time."

The three were disappointed. "Are you sure, Misaka-san?" Saten inquired.

Mikoto nodded. "Yeah." Then she looked at the three girls. "By the way, there's some place I want to go." She said as she looked at Kyouko. "I'll probably be back before curfew."

The Sakugawa girls could only nod, while Kyouko sighed. "Please be careful, Misaka-san."

"I will." Mikoto said with a smile and left the restaurant, with Shirai following after.

"Misaka-san seemed so distant today." Uiharu noted.

"So distant that I've started to become suspicious of her." Kyouko said. "This only happened after Saten-san told us about that urban legend. Not that it was her fault anyway."

Saten felt slightly offended. "Well, Misaka-san did ask me if there's something new about it."

"We can look it up later," Kyouko said, now with an authority in her voice. "We must get to 177th Judgment Branch for new cases."

* * *

Mikoto kicked the certain vending machine. The said machine let out a random soda. She picked it up and gave to Shirai.

Just before Shirai could puncture through the edge of the topside of the can like she did with the two tuna cans from before, Mikoto quickly held the youkai's hand with her left hand.

"That's not how you open it." She said, using her free hand as she opened the can using the opener provided.

"Oh..." Shirai blushed in embarrassment.

Mikoto sat to the bench just on the left side of the vending machine, then the human-fox followed suit.

"This city sure is beautiful..." Shirai said as she took a sip on the soda.

"Yeah." Mikoto half agreed as she looked down, smiling sadly.

Shirai looked at the downcast Electromaster. "Is something wrong?" She asked.

Mikoto then looked at the other, shaking her head as she looked at the park before her. "It's nothing."

Academy City sure is a nice city to live in, with the Power Curriculum Program and all. But behind that facade is the gruesome experiments to reach Level 6. As far as using Child Errors or cloning a certain Level 5 just to receive the results of their main objective. Not only Level 6 is their main goal, but to keep advancing their research on different cruel experiments.

"By the way," Mikoto spoke up, after minutes of silence. "Is your world... fun to live in?" She asked with curiosity in her voice.

Shirai almost spat out the soda she was drinking upon hearing the question of her companion. "Why do you ask that?"

"I was just wondering."

"Well, aside from the accusation I got myself in, it's a nice world."

Mikoto hummed from the answer she received. "Also," Shirai cut in. "This world is already nice enough, even when I and my family were watching it from my world."

"Your friends are also kind, they express how they are worried about you. I... I feel like I'm alone in this world. But now that I met you, I don't feel that way anymore."

Mikoto blushed, as she didn't get that much gratitude apart from her other three friends. After all, they are all together in the incidents they face (except the other Level 6 experiment, which she started herself) and save each other's backs.

"W-What are you talking about?" She asked in an embarrassed tone. "I can't just ignore someone who is in trouble."

Shirai chuckled at the way how Mikoto's embarrassed. "Misaka-san is so kind."

Mikoto stood up, too embarrassed for the discussion to go further. "A-Anyway, we need to get going."

* * *

Kyouko was on her Judgment duty. All the cases she received were just from the troublemakers in the form of delinquents. They were easy to put down, she noted. No big-scale case, no Skill-Outs, no world dominating cases. Along the course of the duty, the 177th Judgment Branch didn't receive any case related to the latest urban legend.

She, along with Uiharu and Saten, were in the said Branch, with her and Uiharu scanning a few of the security cameras around the city and Saten playing some game in her phone.

The two Judgment officers' senpai, Konori Mii, entered the room, looking weary.

The other three girls looked at the new occupant. "Konori-senpai," Kyouko called. "You look so tried. What happened?"

Konori went to her desk and sat, looking at Kyouko. "While I was on a patrol, a young boy was crying in the park because he had lost his pet cat. I had almost looked for the _whole_ of District 7, if it wasn't stolen and I didn't use my ability..."

"Whoa... that sucks." Saten said. "So, you got nothing except for successfully finding the cat?"

"The boy kept apologizing to me and said it was his fault for losing the cat. Of course, I would help him because I'm a Judgment officer." Konori said, as she was taking her time sitting on the chair.

"As expected of Konori-senpai." Uiharu spoke as she walked to her senpai's table with a cup of tea.

"Thank you, Uiharu-san." Konori took the cup and sipped. "So, how's the duty coming?"

"Nothing weird, as always." Kyouko simply replied. "Just delinquents."

"You're right... It's been like that for a week now."

By the time Uiharu went back to her seat, she saw a familiar figure in the sight of one of the security cameras opened in the monitor.

"Misaka-san!?" Uiharu yelled.

Kyouko and Saten quickly went to check the monitor that Uiharu was looking at. Konori, as tired as she was, remained from her seat.

"I see. So Misaka-san was only roaming the city. I thought that there was some place she wanted to go." Kyouko said, eyeing the screen suspiciously.

As seen from the camera, Mikoto was in front of the familiar store, where those magazines and mangas were sold. She went inside, not realizing that she was being watched by the three.

"Oh. She only wanted to read those mangas again."

"I never knew Misaka-san was into those." Saten commented. "But if it's Misaka-san, then it doesn't come up as a surprise, right?"

* * *

Mikoto and Shirai were tired from roaming around several parts of District 7. The two went to Seventh Mist, Game Center and finally, the bookstore that Mikoto frequented to check the latest chapter of the manga she was reading.

The sky was colored red-orange, as an effect to the sun setting down. They settled for the day, walking back to the Tokiwadai Dormitory.

"Today is fun." Shirai said as she stretched her arms upward.

Thankfully, there were fewest people to this time, almost to none, this was the right time for Mikoto to talk to Shirai. "I usually had to come to those places alone or with Saten-san, since Kyouko and Uiharu-san had duties in Judgment."

Remembering the events that had occurred today, Shirai felt disappointed. "If there was only a way for me to be visible to everyone so we can play together."

Far away from the two, a golden armored samurai stood tall on top of the building, while it didn't have any human features, the usual flesh was replaced with a blue hue flame.

It observed the youkai - their Heiress - and the human. They seem happy together, talking to each other as if there was no danger involving the Heiress.

"_But, your happy days will end, Heiress. Your punishment will be heavier as soon as we return you, bridging to the human world is a taboo...!_"

The armored samurai engulfed itself in blue flame as it disappeared, as if it had extinguished itself with the flames.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for the incredibly boring chapter, even if it didn't sound like it. Anyway, just like the end part says, the plot will start kicking in. I apologize on how cluttered chapter one was. My mind was in a kind of an unexplainable conflict that prevented me to have a good flow on my writing. Maybe it was the intense heat that affected me, I don't know. The samurai folks finally have a definite description; and that was how I imagined them in the previous chapter and wondered why it didn't spit when I was writing. Again, I apologize, I hope I already made up my writing this chapter. I just hope I didn't make anyone OOC here.

Oh and, don't forget to review~! Constructive criticism is welcome and tell me how my writing went in this chapter.

I would also be grateful to have someone beta my story, I don't mind.

**Review Response**

**- EtherealFox:** Ah, thank you for taking the time to review. Yes, I also have huge interest in eastern mythology, specifically Japan. I took my time reading a lot of Japanese-related mythologies; of course, China and Korea wouldn't also go past my eyes since a good deal of the mythologies are counterparts of each other, with the Nine-tail fox as an example. Also, thank you for pointing how some of the parts of the first chapter didn't make sense aka hard to follow. Your review made realize that chapter one was cluttered. Again, thank you and I hope you enjoyed reading chapter two!


	3. Hatsu no Shuugeki - First Attack

_A golden armored samurai calmly walked into the palace, shrouded in darkness. There was a sitting figure in the middle of it, illuminated by two lightened candles at its sides._

_The said samurai, his hands and face burning in yellow flame, knelt before the figure. "My lord." He said as he bowed._

_"Ah, what brings you here?" The figure spoke in a deep calm tone._

_"My partner has finally found the Heiress, sir." The samurai looked up to who he calls his "lord"._

_"Proceed to things, as usual. Pursue, subdue and bring her to me."_

_"Yes."_

_The samurai bowed as it disappeared in yellow flame._

* * *

Kyouko was troubled during her Judgment duty. There had been more than 5 cases about people who saw animals coming to them, but there were people who saw nothing. She and Uiharu were investigating in the matter at hand, typing in their laptops as various windows pop up and close at random intervals.

"Do you think that this is related to the urban legends?" Uiharu suggested.

"I'm starting to think it is." Kyouko said. "There is no other explanation for this. Some people can, and some cannot..."

"By the way, Ajime-san," Uiharu stopped typing as she looked at the other Jugment member. "Have you seen Konori-senpai?"

Kyouko stopped typing, looking around for their senpai. "Konori-senpai?"

* * *

This day was the worst, Mikoto thought. There had been news and rumors floating around about animals approaching people. There were people saying they could see them or even talk to them, but the remaining people said that they did not see such animals. News and rumors said that those who can see them have been asked if they saw a human with nine-tails.

"It's them." Shirai said bitterly.

They were currently walking in the sidewalks, it was natural for the Electromaster to ignore the youkai she's accompanying with. She told the other if they were in the streets, she can only listen to what the human-fox was saying, until they can find a way to talk to each other without the human look like an idiot to a lot of people.

"They finally made their way here."

Mikoto tightened the grip on the school bag she slung on her shoulder and narrowed her eyes. There was no doubt that a lot of them had came here just for Shirai. The youkai also mentioned that there were 80,000 of them. She could just go and hunt them all down, but their sheer number was too much. Even with her Level 5 ability, she's not a one-man army.

"Onee-chan!"

Cutting her trance of thoughts, a young boy, in 9 years of age approached her.

"Have you seen a big eagle?" He asked, gesturing his arms as he try to measure the height comparable to an adult eagle.

"No..." Mikoto replied slowly. 'What kind of child is having a pet eagle?'

The boy gave a sad look as he looked downwards. "Is that so..." Then he cheered up and looked at the older girl. "Thanks for it, though!"

He ran past Mikoto, who only looked at his running figure disappearing from her sight.

"Why is that kid having a pet eagle?" She muttered as she and Shirai continued walking.

Minutes later, the Electromaster began to hear growls from the youkai. She looked at the other to see her spacing out and giving out the angry expression, something was bothering her.

"What's wrong?" Mikoto asked in the lowest possible tone.

"Here... He's here... _that_ eagle..." Shirai replied slowly behind her gritting teeth.

Before Mikoto asked anything else, the human-fox suddenly sprinted forward, leaving the confused Electromaster in the street.

Of course, she wouldn't ignore the act the youkai was showing. She also sprinted in the direction the youkai disappeared into, and hoped to find the fox before something happened to her.

* * *

In the 177th Judgment Branch, Konori Mii entered the room and found Kyouko and Uiharu busying themselves in their work.

"Did something happen?" She asked curiosly as she closed the door and approached Kyouko, looking at the latter's activity.

"There has been over 10 cases of people who can see these animals, but the others don't." Kyouko replied without looking away from the screen.

"Is it the work of an esper?" Konori suggested.

"I don't think so." Uiharu replied, while still typing. "We already checked and confirmed that all espers who can turn objects or themselves invisible have alibis. Some of them were a victim of this case."

"Besides, they couldn't be seen or detected by the security cameras around the city." She added.

"Can't be detected?" Konori repeated. "There's no way an esper could have an ability like that."

"That's why we're in a dead end." Kyouko stated. "We don't have any clue as to why is the culprit doing this or what is that culprit's ability."

Konori can only sit on her designated chair and opened her laptop, investigating on the same case. True to the other two members, there was no such esper with an Invisibility ability type who can get themselves unnoticed by the security cameras. She read the latest report about the current case, and the victims rose up to 15 recently, as opposed to have only few. Continuous reports said it was wild animals looking for a human with nine-tails. The animals the victims described ranged from tiger, eagle, lion, dog or even a cat.

According to the data collected, Invisibility ability type works by having themselves or objects invisible or visible to certain people. But the downside is that the security cameras can still see the invisible user or the object no matter how well the user made it invisible. If this isn't caused by an esper, then what?

"Eh!?"

Uiharu yelled in surprise as she stopped whatever she's doing and stared at the PC, with the security cameras opened all over the screen. Kyouko and Konori also stopped and looked at her.

"Why is Misaka-san running?"

Kyouko and Konori looked at each other in curious gaze and approached Uiharu. The latter kept tracking their Electromaster friend, and according to the cameras, she wasn't chasing or being chased.

"What is Misaka-san plotting now?" Kyouko asked in a curious tone.

Uiharu glanced at Kyouko. "Eh? Ajime-san, you don't know about this?"

"No." Kyouko shook her head. "Misaka-san isn't talking about certain things to me. I might have grown suspicious of her actions, but I'm very worried."

They looked back at the screen, observing the Electromaster's running figure.

* * *

Mikoto kept running in the streets of District 7. The students around her were slowing her progress of chasing the youkai. Although, she caught a glimpse on one of the tails and a flying eagle. She also noticed that no one seemed to care or notice it.

'That eagle... is a youkai?' She thought as she ran through a crowd of students.

After a few minutes of running, Mikoto finally found the two youkais in the artifical riverbank, two animals facing each other. One was a white nine-tailed fox - which she assumed to be Shirai in her real form - and the other an eagle.

"There's no way for you to run." The eagle taunted. "You should give up, everyone's waiting for you."

But the fox wasn't born yesterday. Shirai knew the eagle was only tricking her to get back and get punished for something she didn't do. "I won't fall for something obvious."

"Oh? Aren't you worried of the people waiting for your return, you traitor? You had a nerve crossing here, knowing it's forbidden in the first place!"

The eagle flapped its wings forward with force, unleashing sharp feathers at Shirai. The latter was calm at the attack and only opened up her nine-tails, conjuring violet flames at the tip of each tails and attacked back. The feathers and flames met each other, only to be burned in contact.

"If we're given the power to cross to the human world, why was it forbidden in the first place?" Shirai asked, in the tone of a statement. "If we're given a power, we have to use it, even if we like it or not!"

"Humans." The eagle simply stated. "They keep peeking to our world. Knowing them, they are always curious. Curious about all things. They are also using us for their own gain! So the higher ups in our world banned us for using the power to cross the human world. With that power or not, we are forbidden to be here, at all cost!"

The sky soaring animal charged at the fox. The latter jumped away from the eagle's brute attack.

"Not all humans are like that! Yes, there may be dark heartened humans, but, there are bound to be kind!" Shirai stated.

"You're just delusional." The eagle spat bitterly.

"Washi!"

The two youkais and Mikoto looked at the source of the voice, and found the same boy that Mikoto had met running to them.

"Tch, that human."

Shirai put up a sly smile at the eagle. "Ara, so you're accompanying that boy? I pity you."

Washi looked at the fox angrily, irritated at the untimely tease. "Shut up!" He looked at the approaching boy, who finally found his 'pet eagle'. 'Perfect. Now I can initiate my plans.'

The eagle flew to the boy, the latter raising his arm on chest level and the animal perched on it. "Where were you, Washi? I was looking all over for you."

Washi didn't say anything and only used his beak and scratched his body.

The boy looked at Mikoto. "Thank you for looking for my eagle, Onee-chan!"

"Eh?" Was only the older girl's response. "How did you know I was here?"

The boy smiled brightly at the question. "I followed you here!"

"Uh..."

Shirai instantly grew suspicious of the boy's actions and narrowed her eyes at him. 'Something's wrong... If this boy can see Washi, then...'

"Waah!" The boy looked amazed at the fox. "What a cute fox!" He said as he tried petting the said fox's head. But she pulled away and growled at him.

"Eh? What's wrong?"

Mikoto quickly took notice of the growling. She made a note that everytime Shirai was growling at something, there was something the youkai is sensing that she couldn't, after all, she is only a mere human being with five senses.

Washi opened his wings and flew to the back of the boy's head. He engulfed himself in a blue flame. He then used his ability and engulfed the boy in blue flame. The boy was screaming as the panic conquered his mind, thought that he was burning himself alive. 'I'll borrow you for a while, boy. According to your age, you are too obedient to lie. I pity how you don't notice who I really am. Oh well, tricking a human is always fun...'

The eagle transformed himself into flame, leaving only his outline, like a shadow in the dark. The boy kept screaming for help as the now flaming outline of the eagle flew into the flame. The blue flame finally joined the flames that kept tormenting the boy, absorbing it into his body. Mikoto could only watch in horror, but at the same time preparing herself in case the eagle will do something. Shirai can only look calm at what was happening before them.

The 'boy' only slumped forward after 'absorbing' the flame. He finally straightened up and looked at Mikoto. She noticed that his expression changed. The boy from before looked so happy, but now, he looked like one of those villians in a manga - his eyes were sharp and displayed a big smirk on his face.

"How do I look, Heiress?" He asked, spreading his arms upward, which he looked like he was preaching. "Would you still attack me, now I possess a human body, hmm? Oh, you wouldn't! You can only harm us youkais! Then how about," He gave the Electromaster an evil glance. "Hurting this girl instead!"

Washi raised his arm and conjured a blue flame to his hand. "Let's see how you will fare with this!" He yelled as he threw it at the human girl.

Mikoto only took a step back, still flabbergasted on what was currently happening. There was an unknown fear implanted inside her. Thankfully, Shirai sprint in front of her companion just in time, quickly dispersing the flame with one of her tails. "I won't let you hurt Misaka-san." She said, ready to protect the other girl.

"Shirai-san..." Mikoto muttered. This was the first time she heard that someone was going to protect her. In her ordinary life in Academy City, she always ends up protecting or saving someone. She's a Level 5, Tokiwadai's Ace, a pride of the school and the city. After her encounter with Shirai, a nine-tailed fox, an Heiress to her kingdom and a youkai. A lot of different things happened to her, and saying the youkai will protect her is one.

"What's this determination, Heiress?" Washi asked. "You're risking your life to protect a human, knowing that someday they're going to use you for their own ends? Don't make me laugh!"

"That's true..." Shirai said under her breath. "Humans are maybe manipulative apes, but Misaka-san doesn't fit that category!"

Washi didn't say anything else and attacked using the same attack he did to attack Mikoto, but Shirai only countered it with her own flame.

Seeing the exchange, Mikoto didn't want to look powerless at the two youkais and looked at Shirai. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Yes." Shirai nodded without looking to the other girl. "Knock him out using your power. I'll extract that arrogant eagle from the body and restore the boy's memories to normal."

"Eh? That boy's memories... had been altered?" Mikoto asked. Shirai had explained to her that youkais can alter the memories of a human, mostly creating fake ones in place of their real ones, creating an illusion that they have that memory. To the Electromaster, this can be explained by a very powerful Telepathy type esper who can look through the memories of a person or sometimes mess with it. She knew exactly someone with that type of ability and that someone is the Queen of Tokiwadai.

Sparks flew out from her forehead and body, looking at Washi, now prepared to save the innocent boy from his clutches. "If this is the only way, then it can't be helped..."

"Misaka-san!"

The three heard a voice from afar. Shirai recognized it as Kyouko, who was using her ability, Cryokinesis, to make an ice floor and slid to it, stopping in front of the two youkais.

"What are you doing, letting out your ability at a young boy?" Kyouko asked.

"But- that- boy-" Mikoto couldn't find the right words. She knew that her roommate couldn't see youkais and explaining it to her may identify her as crazy, or even mentioning that urban legend.

"Tch, another pest." Washi muttered under his breath. "Alright, I'll stop this for now." Then he looked to Mikoto. "Remember this, this is not yet over. I may appear tomorrow, or even later. Keep your heads up." He gave the Electromaster a final smirk and left the boy's body, leaving him unconscious as he fell forward.

Kyouko noticed this and quickly caught the boy's body to her arms. She looked at the unconscious boy and saw that he was sleeping soundly.

Shirai transformed into her human form and walked to the two. She put her hand to the sleeping boy to his forehead and smiled, looking to Mikoto. "He's fine. His real memories are restored after Washi left, so there's nothing to worry. But the eagle will sure come back with a different body to use."

With Kyouko in the presence, Mikoto only returned the smile and nodded.

The Cryokinesis user looked at Mikoto and noticed the calm smile. "Misaka-san, why are you smiling like that? Come on, we need to get to back to the branch and you'll explain things."

Kyouko's words returned the Electromaster back in reality.

"Eh!?"

* * *

Mikoto, Shirai and Kyouko, who was holding the snoring boy, went to the 177th Judgment Branch to interrogate the Electromaster. Uiharu told them that Konori-senpai was out, patrolling around the district.

"And... who's that boy?" Uiharu asked while Kyouko put the said person on the couch, lying straight.

"That's what we'll know right know." Kyouko said sternly as she gave Mikoto a glare.

"M-Me?" Mikoto said as she pointed herself nervously. "I didn't mean to use my ability on that boy, but-"

"No buts." Kyouko stated. "You should know what your ability can do to people. So, explain yourself."

The Electromaster was distraught. 'As if it was easy to explain some things...' Neither Kyouko or Uiharu would believe her if she chose to tell the boy was possessed by a youkai. It was very difficult for her to keep them out of being involved with it, especially with the urban legends and news floating around related to it.

"I had to chase that boy because he was causing mischief." She finally spoke up after thinking up words she could say as an excuse.

"That's a nice excuse, Misaka-san, but you're obviously lying." Kyouko stated. "We were doing our work until Uiharu-san saw you running. You weren't chasing someone or being chased."

"You were watching!?" Mikoto exclaimed, surprised that they were watching her chasing the two youkais.

"Sorry, Misaka-san," Uiharu apologized. "It was an accident."

Before the Electromaster could say anything, Shirai merely walked in front of Kyouko. She gave the youkai a surprise look, even if the other couldn't see it.

"Hmm?" Kyouko cocked her head to the left. "Misaka-san, is something wrong?" She asked curiously.

"W-well, you see..." Mikoto said, her voice trembling as she thought up something to buy time. "You see, there's a mosquito on your cheek."

'That was laaame!'

She noticed that Shirai placed her hand on Kyouko's forehead, already doing something that she hoped it will escape her from the interrogation situation.

Kyouko slowly placed her right hand to her right cheek, when she almost touched it, "Ahh, not there! The other one!" Mikoto exclaimed, almost scaring the Cryokinesis user. The latter instinctively slapped the other side of her cheek with the other hand. While that happened, Shirai's hand on her forehead flamed in purple and absorbed into Kyouko's head. The youkai removed her hand and walked beside the Electromaster.

"Ahh..." Kyouko was silent. There was something in her head that she couldn't process, it was unclear and fast. But soon, she 'remembered' what that unclear memory was. "I see."

"What is it, Ajime-san?" Uiharu asked, eyeing her Judgment partner weirdly.

"Misaka-san said that the boy she encountered back in the riverbank annoyed her, so she thought she could teach him a lesson but the boy fainted in heatstroke and fear." Kyouko said with confidence.

"Ehh... Really?" Uiharu inquired, not really following what Kyouko told her. "Isn't that a bit exaggerated?"

Kyouko shook her head at Uiharu's question and smiled brightly. "No. It justified her reason so there's nothing to worry."

With nothing to press the issue further, Uiharu looked at Mikoto, who was giving the two a forced smile. "Is that true, Misaka-san?"

The question quickly snapped her out of the inner thoughts she had. "Ah, yeah, Uiharu-san!" Mikoto said almost quickly. "I forgot I already told Kyouko about it so I made her slap her cheek!"

"Uwaah!" Uiharu yelled, suddenly getting an idea. "So you made Ajime-san remember it by slapping her cheek? No wonder, in the movies, it serves as a Eureka moment!"

Mikoto felt how awkward their current exchange was, but she had to go along with it. "Yes! They have to slap themselves so hard they remember it!"

The creaking sound of the door behind them abruptly stopped their conversation and looked at the person standing at the doorway. It was Saten Ruiko. She quickly took notice of the awkward atmosphere and the looks that her three friends gave her. "Did I miss something?"

* * *

On top of one of the buildings in Academy City, the two armored samurais watched the ground below, observing the humans and the moving vehicles. One had a blue flame, Washi, and the other yellow.

"So, how did it go?" The samurai with the yellow flame asked in a gentle voice.

Washi could only cross his arms in disappointment. "I thought I could already capture the Heiress, but some humans just want to involve themselves in unnecessary situations."

"I thought you said you'd do all just to capture her?"

"It wouldn't be fair if I involve outsiders. I am a bird of prey, I only target whoever becomes my prey."

"What about the girl the Heiress is accompanying with?"

"She is being protected by the Heiress."

"Oh, really?" The yellow flamed samurai inquired, suddenly piqued with interest. "That's interesting."

"For you." Washi grunted. "_They _will be angry if they know about this! Our lord only asked permission from _them_ to cross the human world to retrieve something important!"

"Going as far as to keep our lord's mouth shut that the Heiress escape from our world. _They_ didn't even question his motives."

"For a wild animal like you, you sure are too noble for this."

"Speak for yourself, Washi. I'm only here as your back up and partner. I don't plan on acting other than from the orders we've received."

The yellow flamed samurai ignited himself and disappeared.

"That nerve...!" Washi yelled angrily.

* * *

Saten Ruiko grabbed a cup of coffee that Kyouko and Uiharu had prepared for them and sipped to it. Kyouko and Mikoto had told her what happened a while ago, with Uiharu only listening, standing beside Saten. There was something weird with Kyouko's actions after she returned. She had been too happy for her own personality and kept waving off the fact that their Electromaster friend was punishing a young boy with her ability.

"Oh yeah, Uiharu." Saten spoke up and looked at her classmate, putting down the cup to the desk nearest to her. "There's something I forgot."

She bent down, her hands reaching for one of the most common thing she occasionally grabs-

and flipped Uiharu's skirt without any shame.

"Today is pink with strawberry print!"

"KYAAA~"

The young boy opened his eyes due to the poor Uiharu's scream of her skirt being flipped. The moment he opened his eyes, he raised his arm and shielded it from the sheer brightness of the room. He stayed in his current position for a while before he sat up, looking at his surroundings.

Saten noticed this and looked at the awakened boy. "Look, Uiharu, you made him wake up from your scream."

"I-If only Saten-san would stop flipping my skirt!" Uiharu retorted in her flustered look.

"Where am I...?" The boy asked, his tone sounded like he was lost in an unfamiliar city.

"177th Judgment Branch." Kyouko replied with a smile, approaching the boy.

After hearing the word "Judgment", the boy squeaked in surprise. "W-what did I do wrong!?"

"Nothing." Kyouko simply replied. "We saw you fainted from heatstroke so we took you here for a while."

The boy sighed in relief, trying to pry in his memories in the recollection of events that happened to him before he "fainted". He looked up at the girls and recognized one of them.

"Oh! The Onee-chan from before!" He yelled as he pointed his index finger at Mikoto.

"Ah, yes, it's me." Mikoto chuckled nervously and walked in front of the boy. "How are you?"

The boy smiled brightly. "I'm fine! Thank you for - huh?"

Kyouko, Uiharu and Saten looked at the boy with a curious look, but Mikoto only kept a poker face, knowing the spell that Washi whatever used was gone and his memories related to Washi were erased.

"I don't know... But I did meet you and asked something. I was running around and everything went blank." The boy explained slowly, still trying hard to remember the unusual gap in his memory. "The last thing I remembered was trying to pet a white fox."

The three curious girls were confused. "White fox?" They chorused as they looked at each other. Mikoto only clenched her fist tightly. There was no doubt this boy could see youkais besides her. She also noticed that Shirai was hiding out of the boy's sight. Telling him that it was a dream will cause suspicion from her friends and get into interrogation again.

"Well, what matters is that you're safe now, right?" She assured to the boy, hoping that the boy wouldn't press for his memory issues further.

True, his health is more than anything else. He was grateful that he was fine after losing his consciousness, even if he didn't know the reason behind it. Whatever that was, he hoped it wouldn't be worse than having fun with his schoolmates or friends he knew.

"Thank you, Onee-chan!" The boy thanked the Electromaster and gave her the brightest smile he could give.

* * *

"So, it was an illusion memory?"

Mikoto went to a convenience store and bought a pair of juices and triangular sandwiches with vegetable stuffing. The flavor of the juice that the Electromaster and the youkai picked were melon and orange flavors, respectively. They also had the same order of triangular sandwich. Shirai had explained to her what a youkai can do to a human while walking in the streets under the setting sun.

Shirai nodded at Mikoto's question. "However, their illusion abilities are weak; they can only influence other people temporarily. Whereas a higher tier have broader means of using their illusion abilities."

"What about Kyouko? Is the illusion memory you gave her only temporary?" Mikoto asked.

"It should be." Shirai replied. "The illusion memory will turn off automatically should she forget what happened earlier or stopped thinking about it." She sipped on the orange juice she was holding.

Thankfully, whatever Shirai touches or holds disappears from the human sight, something that Mikoto was glad. She wanted to avoid curious gazes and ask her why was an object floating beside her.

"Oh yeah... " Mikoto spoke up, her mind wondering about something. "How does it feel like to possess a human body?"

Shirai wasn't sure how to reply to her companion's question. She looked up at the orange sky; an indication that evening was soon to come. She hadn't tried possessing a human body, thinking she would bother someone else and cause a confusion to the victim due to the missing gap.

"That's what I like to know..." Was all she said, looking back at her bottle of juice.

In front of them, a High School student passed by them, which gained the attention of Shirai. She stared at his back for a moment, but she only shrugged and continued walking alongside Mikoto, who was asking her why she wanted to know how it felt.

* * *

A/N: Argh. I'm very pissed. I'm very very pissed. Problems after problems two or three weeks after I upgraded to Windows 8. Well, it only happened after I installed SD Gundam Capsule Fighters, Korean Server. I was interested in playing it again because of the absence of RPS (Rock-Paper-Scissors) System, but killed my Windows 8 in the process after I wanted to restart due to MS Office having its own problems because it freaking stopped working. I shouldn't have been interested with SDGO KR and install so I would be still using Windows 8. GGGRRRR. Right now, I'm in my other HDD and OS, which had Windows 7. I uninstalled most of the programs there since I moved to the other one. But since my main HDD/OS was having its own problem, I had to move back to the other one so I can (maybe) reinstall it. I don't know if I should reinstall Windows 8 (clean install) or install a Linux OS.

Ranting aside, please review, folks! It's the only thing that keeps me motivated. Oh and, please tell me how my writing went so I can keep improving. (though I would be glad to someone beta me...) I must be getting rusty for not writing in. freaking. MONTHS. I felt so ashamed since I've been focusing on essays.

I apologize if Mikoto looked useless in this chapter. How would you react if a spirit possess someone really younger than you but you wouldn't want to hurt the person? I guess it's something of that sort in her situation.

/Review Response/ (might be the last one since I don't want things to get longer)

- KainUltima: Now you got your answer regarding the visibility of the objects that Kuroko is holding :P

- EtherealFox: Who knows~ *whistles* Just kidding. I'll reveal Kuroko's abilities slowly.

- CrossFaded: Thank you for an honest review about regarding my English/grammar/narration. It makes me realize that my writing was average or good or bad. Yes, I do notice how some parts of the chapter(s) are described clumsily or without clear understanding. I guess that alone made me feel my writing skills got rusty. I also forgot to mention that English isn't my native language so... yeah. Although, I don't take this as an excuse to my writing skills. I have to keep improving so I can be better.


	4. Tora - Tiger

_Misaka Mikoto kept running through a field of mist__. She didn't know how long she had been running and finding a way to get out of it. There was no feeling of tiredness or how cold the mist was. Her dreams weren't as bad as this. The last bad dream she had was the replay of her younger self giving her DNA map to the scientist, who promised to cure the people who had the muscular disease, however it was all a lie._

_Mikoto stopped in the middle of the mist, unknown on how long she was far on her starting point._

_"I don't know what kind of motives you have, but if you want to challenge me, come out from the mist!"_

_There was no response._

_Not a single breath of another presence or a gust of wind responded to the shout she unleashed._

_She got into her attacking stance, pushing back her leg as she clenched hands into fists, her back bending forward and let out a spark of electricity from her forehead._

_"Come out, you coward!" She released her electric spear from the forehead, traveling to the limitless end of the mist._

"Ow!"

_A voice responded, but she didn't know where the source was, it was very far away for her to know._

"M-Misaka-san..."

_The voice became clearer and familiar._

"Misaka-san, please wake up!"

* * *

Mikoto sharply opened her eyes and realized that she was back in her dorm room, lying on her bed and facing the wall.

"Geez, Misaka-san, what's with you shocking other people in your sleep?"

Ajime Kyouko's exasperated voice rang in her ears. She looked at the Cryokinesist with curious eyes, who was already in her school uniform.

"Did I... shock someone?"

Kyouko's expression shifted from irritated to curiousness.

"You don't know?"

Mikoto sat up slowly and put a hand on her head, feeling dizzy. "Not really, but I remember using my powers in my dream. It was so bad..."

"But, using your powers in your dream won't affect you in the real world..."

"Oh, yeah, Konori-senpai called me and Uiharu-san earlier on.." Kyouko added. "We'll have Judgment duties until 12:00 to investigate the current case."

Mikoto put down her hand and looked at her roommate. "It's not solved yet?"

Kyouko sighed. "Nope. We're currently at a dead end. Now we are required to have a half-day duty so we can narrow down the culprit."

Mikoto smiled at the branch's determination to track down whoever the "culprit" was. "I see. Good luck on your duty."

The other smiled back. "Thank you, Misaka-san." Kyouko went for the door and left the dorm room.

Mikoto looked at her desk to check on the youkai, but she was baffled when she saw how ridiculous Shirai looked.

Shirai was hanging on top of the headboard of Mikoto's bed and her lower limbs were supported by the chair. She was charred black as her name, and her nine-tails were spiky and explosive in all directions. Apparently, she was looking at how her companion was thrashing on her bed about some bad dream and got shocked when she came too close.

"Pffft..."

Mikoto couldn't help but laughed at the sight of the youkai who clearly received much more damage as compared to her roommate. It didn't help that she was covering her mouth trying hard not to laugh.

Shirai recovered from her misfortune and looked at her.

"Misaka-san, please don't shock us in your sleep." She pouted.

"W-Well... It's not like... I'm aware of it..." Mikoto said in between her laughters.

* * *

Washi, who had possessed another a body; this time a twelve year old student, along with his companion who disguised a high school student from a certain high school were in a restaurant, sipping on their juices.

"So," Washi began. "What is our lord's next orders now?"

His companion simply crossed his legs and looked at the younger student. "Our lord took his attention to the human girl that the Heiress is attached with."

"Now that you mention her, she seem to emit a spark of sorts." Washi said as he stared at his juice with a blank face.

"Spark? Like what Raijin could do?"

Washi looked at him, leaning on his right arm and rested his head on it, "I don't know. Our little talk ended with someone butting in."

"Interesting."

Washi knew that every time his companion was interested at something, he would always go off alone to check the subject of his interest. Since the bastard in the form of his companion always went back to their world and reported everything to their lord, he didn't get to know the full details, and wondered if he was lying about it.

"Since you're so damn interested, why not tell me our current orders first?"

"Our lord..."

* * *

In 177th Judgment Branch, Kyouko and Uiharu arrived in time for their chief to explain the latest situation.

"Right now, we've received more victims of the incident." Konori said as she looked at the paper that contained the said report. "I've thought of a possibility that this is caused by an esper who can use telepathy."

Kyouko put a hand on her chin. "But that would only widen the range of possible culprits."

"Should we ask help from Anti-Skill?" Uiharu said.

"Anti-Skill only responds to a bigger threat, so they're out of the picture."

"I've been skeptical about it, but I keep suspecting that this might be related to the urban legends that Saten-san mentioned a few days ago." Kyouko said.

"What urban legend?" Konori said as she looked at Kyouko. She was interested at what kind of urban legend did their resident Level 0 speak of this time.

"It's about 'something we cannot see', according to the urban legend."

"It could be just a coincidence." Uiharu said.

"Either way, we'll need to check the list of espers who can use telepathy and interrogate them, to be sure." Kyouko said as she walked over to her desk, with both Konori and Uiharu also doing the same.

* * *

Mikoto and Shirai were walking in the streets of District 7. The morning was calm and peaceful. Since Mikoto had nothing to do for Sunday, she thought she could give the youkai a walk outside.

"By the way, since you're free today, how about we take the time to spar?" Shirai suggested.

Of course, with Mikoto, she would never turn down a challenge from anyone. She only grinned at the proposal of sparring and started running across the streets, with Shirai following her behind.

Soon, they arrived at an artificial riverbank. This place is notable to be mostly deserted, sans for wild insects or bugs, much to Mikoto's chagrin.

The human and the youkai faced each other with a fifteen feet distance approximately between them. The former had sparks flowing out of her body and the latter had gotten into her battle stance.

"Don't blame me if I fry you." Mikoto said as she got fired up for the friendly spar.

"Of course, Misaka-san." Shirai nodded enthusiastically, and from her voice, she was now fired up as well. She haven't seen what her human companion could do. The only time she got to see her power was when she fried those thugs who wanted to hit on her. Too bad it was their fault for not knowing what the Electromaster could do against them. "I won't be going easy, though."

Mikoto made her first move by using her electromagnetic ability to manipulate the iron sand from the ground below them, forming an iron sand sword. By vibrating the sand particles that formed the sword, she could effortlessly slice through metal if she wished to.

However, the youkai didn't like the Electromaster's first move. "A sword!?" Shirai exclaimed at the sight of the sword. "Isn't that unfair?"

"It's just created with my ability." Mikoto said.

She dashed at the surprised youkai, but the latter quickly regained composure just in time and side stepped the downward slash.

Back then, during the peaceful times in her world, Shirai had been trained to deal with different kinds of situations along with different weapons that her opponents handled. She did not like to use or carry weapons as she thought it would only slow her down, thus she had focused on bare fist, disable and disarm techniques.

No matter how many times Mikoto tried to land a hit on the youkai, the other always had a faster reaction time and avoided all of her attacks.

Bored with the attack-dodge cycle, Shirai avoided the last slash and stayed in her position as Mikoto used the same downward attack.

She waited for the right time and-

clasped her hands between the lowering iron sand sword, stopping the attack.

"W-What!?" Mikoto was surprised at the youkai's way of stopping her attack.

She got out of the said surprise and dispersed the sword. Mikoto reached for the youkai's shoulder, the other only using her hand to stop it from holding her. Shirai used her foot to trip Mikoto and fell downwards, still holding the other's wrist.

Mikoto used her free hand and held on Shirai's ankle. Shirai conjured flames from each of her nine tails on standby, waiting for an opportunity.

The two stopped on their movements and looked at each other.

"Why don't we try who is faster?" Mikoto grinned with her hand on Shirai's ankle held tightly.

Shirai grinned back at her. "Don't blame me if I hurt you."

* * *

Several civilians looked at Mikoto, who was apparently burned on several areas. Unseen by them was Shirai who also was in a similar condition.

During the last part of their sparring session, both were fast enough to launch their attacks at the same time, causing the both of them to be fried as nicely as a barbecue chicken.

Mikoto was glad that the burns she received from the youkai weren't bad as with the electric shock she gave to her. There were nine burns on her body, which she was thankful for because it only hit most of her school uniform, which could be replaced easily. The remaining few burns were either on her arms, legs and even a random one at her shoes.

Shirai was in the same dilemma. The burns on her skin couldn't be compared to the Electromaster's burns. Her muscles were twitching at random times and moving on its own due to the shock. She thought that their spar could end in a proper manner, but it ended up with the both of them in such a bad shape.

* * *

Washi and his companion were walking slowly in the streets of District 7 and passed by the game center, hoping to find the Heiress and her companion.

"Hey, do you think this will really work?" Washi asked.

He had been told that their current mission was to attack them until the Heiress surrendered and pleads for mercy and go back to their world. Their lord wouldn't go as far as attacking them as their direct orders.

"Our lord wanted her back as much as possible." His companion replied with confidence in his voice.

"You sure are confident about this, Tora." Washi said.

"Of course." Tora nodded. "There couldn't be any other way."

"Then, if the orders are to now directly approach them, then the two of us can battle them, right?"

"No, only one of us, since we will be challenging the Heiress's companion only. So, if one of us manage to weaken her, then the Heiress will plead for us to stop and she'll obediently come back with us.

"Sounds cliché. If that's the case, you'll be facing the human, right? "

"It would be faster if I deal with her, since you're reckless."

Washi felt offended at Tora's remark, but he only kept quiet and put his hands at the back of his head.

"Tora, do you think there's something else going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why do we still call her Heiress if she's a traitor that killed over a thousand of the population?"

"I don't know." Tora's voice was strained, "There's a part of me that I couldn't bring myself to call her a traitor, even if our lord called her one."

Washi thought. Ever since their mission started, he did not know why they were doing this. They knew that they were up against someone stronger than them, yet they just complied and did what they were supposed to do. Every time he tried to remember what happened when he saw those white nine-tails, his memories always forced itself to focus on another part of his memories, like there was something else that prevented him from remembering it.

_"Why are we doing this, really...?"_

* * *

Mikoto and Shirai arrived in the playground, with the former had a paper bag of sweets and pastries.

The children in the playground were having fun playing with each other. Since the Electromaster had nothing to do for the day and Kyouko and Uiharu were in the Judgment office for the investigation, they went here to pass the time until the two Judgment officers had done their research.

One of the children, Hazamaya Kana[1], who had her bag stolen and recovered from the Graviton Bombings, noticed the Electromaster.

"Uwaah!" She yelled and pointed at the aforementioned Electromaster. "It's the Tokiwadai Onee-chan!"

The other children with her looked at her direction and saw it was indeed Mikoto. They ran to the latter and stopped in front of her.

Mikoto smiled at the children. "Good morning! I've brought sweets and pastries for today!" She brought up the paper bag that she had been holding and showed it to the children.

The children around her cheered as she gave the paper bag to Kana. She opened it while the surrounding children grabbed a random piece of pastry from the paper bag.

After grabbing a pastry, a spiky haired boy kid with a bandage on the left side of his cheek looked at Mikoto. "Why is Onee-chan all burned?"

Mikoto gulped at the question, but she knew they would ask the question since it was so obvious. She couldn't possibly tell those children that she had sparred with a youkai. "I fought a Pyrokinesist on my way here and got burned because he was a powerful esper."

"But, Mikoto onee-san is strong and she would never give up, so in the end she beat the esper." she said proudly, like she was telling a tale of another protagonist's adventure.

The children who listened to her "adventure" clapped their hands and cheered at Mikoto's victory over the Pyrokinesist. But Shirai was not amused at all.

"It sounded like I was the villain of your silly story."

Mikoto glanced at the youkai. She would deal with the youkai later once she was alone with her. Right now, she wanted to play with the children to kill time.

_Time: 11:30_

Mikoto waved goodbye to the children who headed off to a family restaurant to eat lunch. When they disappeared from her sight, Shirai walked up to the Electromaster.

"Those children had fun playing with you." she said, with a hint of sadness in her voice.

Mikoto nodded as she agreed with the youkai. "Yeah. Even though some of them are annoying, but they're really kind."

"If only I was a human being, I could also have fun playing with them." Shirai said as she looked at the ground below, displaying a sad smile.

"There you are."

Both the human and the youkai stiffened up as they heard a piercing gentle voice that could only mean hunting. Shirai recognized that voice. It was one of her pursuers back in their world. Tora. He was also the one who had passed by them yesterday.

Tora walked in the playground, approaching.

"You two are having such a good day under the sun, not thinking ahead of the dangers." Tora said. "By the way, I came here to challenge your companion." He pointed at Mikoto in a way that would make even the most noble man ashamed.

"What if I refused?" Mikoto asked.

Tora simply laughed at the question. "You can't refuse at this." he said as he snapped his fingers and white mist started to cover the whole playground. The said place was barely visible due to the mist that overlapped it.

...Mist?

Mikoto remembered the same mist from her dream. That dream was unpleasant since it had no end. There was no sign of life when she had been in it.

"This mist is only is merely an illusion space. So whatever happens here remains here and doesn't affect the real space. Think of it as an overlapped dimension. No one can enter or leave this space."

"What are you planning right now, Tora?" Shirai said.

"Nothing, in particular." Tora said. "Our lord had simply taken an interest to the human you're always with."

Shirai gritted her teeth. After all, she couldn't avoid Mikoto getting involved in her situation. Now her pursuers had taken drastic measures just to take her back in their world.

"So, human girl, would you accept my challenge?" Tora said as he looked at Mikoto.

Mikoto couldn't think of anything else but to accept the challenge. This may be the only way to escape.

"I'll accept."

Tora, disguised as a high school student, ignited himself and shifted to his armored samurai form. His flaming hand turned into flaming claws with three sharp fingers in each hand. It solidified and tuned into golden sharp claws.

He charged at Mikoto as she leapt sideway to dodge the claw attack from Tora before generating a ball of electricity in her palm and hurled it at Tora, who only slashed the ball, dissipating it.

Tora stopped and looked at her. "Just like what Washi had said, your power is very similar to Raijin. Are you his descendant?"

"Descendant?" Mikoto said. "What are you talking about? I only gained this by hard work."

* * *

Kyouko and Uiharu had met up with Saten who was waiting for them in front of Seventh Mist. Both Judgment officers still wore their uniforms while Saten was wearing a civilian attire.

This was a perfect chance for Saten. Once Uiharu was near her, she quickly flipped the poor flowerbed girl's skirt, as her form of casual greeting. Only for her classmate, anyway.

"Today is full of ducks!" Saten declared after she looked into Uiharu's panties.

"S-S-Saten-saaaan!" Uiharu stuttered, feeling embarrassed that not only her skirt was flipped, but even declared what was the design of her panties.

"Sorry, sorry. I got carried away." Saten apologized sheepishly.

Uiharu, after recovering from her embarrassment, looked around the area as she searched for a certain somebody.

"Where's Misaka-san?" Uiharu said as she looked at Kyouko.

"I don't know." Kyouko said as she looked at her cellphone. "I sent her a text that we will meet up at the gates of Seventh Mist, but I haven't received her reply yet."

"Is Misaka-san having problems?"

"Even if she had one, I wouldn't be able to know about it anyway."

In the distance, they heard voices of children talking and laughing. They recognized one of those children as the one who had lost and recovered her bag and gave Uiharu a frog shaped stuff toy that contained a graviton bomb.

They decided to approach those children, specifically Kana. Uiharu smiled at the child,"Little girl, have you seen Misaka-san?"

"Onee-chan played with us at the playground!" Kana chirped happily as she pointed the direction of the playground. "She was still there when we left to eat lunch."

"I see. Thank you for your help!" Uiharu said as she put her hand on the little girl's head.

Kana smiled one more time as she went back with her friends.

The trio walked to the playground that Kana had pointed to. They reached the place, but it was deserted. Not a single soul existed in the playground except for the blowing wind.

"Was Misaka-san really here?" Kyouko asked as she stared at the deserted playground.

* * *

"Kyouko!" Mikoto exclaimed as she saw her roommate staring at the playground.

"It's no use, human. No one will hear us from here."

Mikoto gritted her teeth and glared at Tora. Her opponent was very fast. He could dodge all of her attacks and could find an opening in all of it,

She used her electromagnetism and created an iron sand sword. After taking its form, she dashed at Tora and did a sideward slash at her opponent. But Tora used his claw to intercept the attack.

The two engaged in a claw-sword play duel as they kept attacking or blocking each others attacks. Neither could land a hit due to their quick reactions on blocking incoming attacks from the other.

They attacked simultaneously, and as the two weapon clashed, the both of them got locked into a stalemate as the both of them could not progress any further.

Shirai only stood in the distance as she watched their battle. Tora had also said that this was only a battle between him and Mikoto and she must not assist the Electromaster no matter what.

Meanwhile, Mikoto removed one of her hands holding the iron sand sword and directed it towards the ground. Using her ability, she made another iron sand sword and pulled away from the lock, slashing with both swords diagonally.

Manipulating one of the swords now, she turned it into whip approaching Tora like a roaring, metal snake. He noticed the incoming attack and dodged accordingly.

Seizing the opportunity, the sword and the whip dispersed into the wind as the Electromaster charged at the youkai and hugged him on his waist, grinning.

"Got you!" Mikoto exclaimed as she discharged a high voltage electric shock from her body.

"AAAAAAAAAAARRRGGGHH!"

Just like her battle with Kiyama Harumi under the effects of the Level Upper Network, memories of the youkai started to flood her mind.

* * *

_"Come on! There's a massacre going on!"_

_Different youkais in traditional Japanese attire, such as the hakama, who had triangular shaped straw hats ran through the forest as they looked for the source of the mentioned massacre._

_They found the location and saw fifteen dead bodies on the ground. In the middle of the bodies was a human form of the nine-tailed fox standing tall. They couldn't make out the form, but they were sure its tails were white as snow._

_The human-fox looked at them, but nobody could tell that it was looking at them._

_"You!" One of the youkais said. "Why are you doing this?"_

_It didn't say anything and opened up its tails, conjuring white flames on each tip. The flame's size was comparable to an adult fist. The lone figure launched the flames at the group of youkais as it mumbled in a different language._

_"W-What!?"_

_Being unable to move due to their fear, they were hit by the flames, engulfing all of them. They felt their bodies changing shape and they felt intense pain in their heads as they clasped their hands around it. They couldn't do anything to make the pain go away._

_The flames dissipated, as the youkais from before were replaced by several golden armored samurais. One of them had a yellow flame that replaced its human features. It looked at its hands and saw it was on fire, and wondered why could the flames possess a form._

* * *

Mikoto froze up after witnessing all of Tora's memories. The unconscious youkai fell from her arms to the ground. There was a cracking sound on the belt part of his armor.

Tora stirred lightly and looked at the Electromaster. "You..." He spoke up weakly. "You saw my memories..."

Mikoto wasn't sure what to say at the youkai. She was sure that it was a nine-tailed fox who made them. But who? She knew it wasn't Shirai who did it since the flames she had were purple and not white.

The fallen youkai didn't wait for Mikoto to say anything and continued. "It doesn't matter... I'm done here, anyway..."

"After all, the Heiress is..."

* * *

_A black Bishop chess piece fell down as the white Queen chess piece pushed it downwards._

_Washi, in his golden samurai form looked at the chessboard silently. His lord noticed that one of his 80,000 soldiers had fallen down._

_"Tora is as clever as a Bishop, but his plans aren't foolproof. He didn't make any replacement plansjust in case his first plan fails. That idiot."_

_"And I didn't tell him to challenge that human!" The lord said. "He may have told me that the traitor is being accompanied by somebody who can see her, but I didn't order him to use a direct approach to propose a challenge!"_

_Washi clenched his hands to fist tightly._

_That liar…__He knew that their lord would__ never__ order something like that__._

_"Either way..." The lord __said__, his voice now calm after his outburst. "Washi, you are a great soldier, but..."_

_Before the lord can finish his sentence, an unseen sword stabbed through Washi from the back, who only looked down shakily as he realized that his weak point had been cracked by a long sword. There was no blood, just a steel long sword through him. After all, the embodiment of him is nothing but an illusion._

_He had been betrayed by his own lord. He thought he was going to get a bigger prize if he captured her, but he was wrong._

_He heard his lord's final words before he died._

_"All 80,000 of you are nothing but my puppets."_

* * *

The mist that had overlapped the playground disappeared, returning Mikoto and Shirai back in the real space.

Mikoto thought about Tora's final words before he disappeared; his memories were also a part of her curiousness. There was something big going on other than pursuing a fugitive.

But she could deal with that problem later. She first had to approach the trio who had been looking for her.

"Kyouko!" She called out, who, along with Uiharu and Saten, looked at the source of the voice.

"Misaka-san!" The three girls chorused, glad that they had finally found her.

"Where were you!?" Kyouko said. "The children said you were here, but when we came here, you were not around!"

Mikoto put her hand on Kyouko's shoulder. "Don't worry, what matters is that I'm fine."

"Ehrm... I wouldn't call that fine, Misaka-san..." Uiharu said as she noticed the burns and scrapes around the Electromaster's body. There were also three parallel scratches on some parts of her uniform.

"What happened?" Saten said as she eyed the minor injuries.

"Ahh... That..." Mikoto said. "I had a battle with a Pyrokinesist, and I accidentally tripped while I was battling that esper who had brought a knife."

For some reason, Shirai felt angrier at how Mikoto had to lie that made her looked like a bad guy. Even though she wasn't the one being described, her powers had relation to fire and the Electromaster thought she could lie to had battled a fire-using esper.

"That's way more sillier than what you had told to those children before!"

Mikoto decided to ignore Shirai's yelling.

"Are you sure you're okay with that?" Kyouko said.

Mikoto nodded. "Yeah. I'm perfectly fine."

The four girls marched out of the playground, going to their usual place to hangout.

* * *

That night...

Kyouko was fast asleep as soon as the lights went off. But both Mikoto and Shirai were still awake. The Electromaster was lying on her bed while the youkai was using the chair to support her feet as she leaned on the headboard of Mikoto's bed.

"Are you still thinking about what Tora said?" Shirai said.

"Yeah." Mikoto nodded as she stared at the dark ceiling.

_"After all, the Heiress is... not a traitor at all... Now I understand why I can't bring myself to call her a traitor... I was being fooled by someone, someone with a greater power who can frame anyone by fooling our memories... Too bad I couldn't tell this to Washi... Even I lied to him..."_

Someone else was pulling the strings, abusing their power to frame someone who will gain power in the future. Mikoto suggested that it might be someone who had a grudge, but Shirai said that as far as she knew, no one had a grudge on her family. A fugitive nine-tailed fox might be causing it, but Shirai rejected it quickly as the only nine-tailed foxes were rulers since the beginning of time.

"So, a family member of yours?" Mikoto said. While she wasn't comfortable with that idea, she had to make sure.

"There's no way my family would do that." Shirai retorted.

"Oh, sorry. I just have to make sure." Mikoto apologized.

True, she and her friends had been tricked that Therestina Lifeline was nothing more than a chief of MAR, however, in reality she was the granddaughter of Kihara Gensei, but that's another story.

"Ah, I have to get to sleep." the Electromaster said as she remembered that tomorrow is Monday, another day of school.

"Good night, Onee-sama." Shirai said gently, looking over to Mikoto.

"Onee-sama? I'm not your sister or anything."

"It doesn't matter, what matters is that you act like a big sister and you treasure those important to you, and you're very kind."

Mikoto blushed at the compliment.

"W-Whatever. G-Good night..."

"Kuroko."

* * *

**A/N: **Probably the longest chapter I've written. Also, I've never been happy than installing Linux OS. I'm using Fedora 18. So, I only need to find a way to dual boot Linux and Windows 7 and I'm all set. Too bad my plans are on the Windows 7 HDD and I have to grab a lot of files from there. Until then, I'm so happy I'm using Linux. Chapter-wise, I really enjoyed writing Tora. I almost made him a traitor to our mysterious antagonist and assist Mikoto and Kuroko. But in the end, I killed him not because I don't want him a traitor, but I find it uninteresting that someone betrayed the antagonist so early.

Now that Railgun S is coming this coming Friday, I've already preordered the Opening Theme!

Also, credits to CrossFaded for being so generous to beta this chapter! Thanks, CrossFaded!

[1] – Yes, the little girl who appears frequently in the anime does have a name, in case for those who haven't played the PSP game.


	5. Hyoui - Possession

Several Skill-Out grunts fell down to the ground head first. A hand reached to the nape of the neck and held it tightly. A golden armored samurai, emitting grass green flame, was extracted from the fallen Skill-Out grunt.

The samurai was thrown away, landing on his back. He looked at a looming figure above him.

"I-I-I'm s-sorry!" He pleaded, fear overcame him as his body convulsed.

The figure raised a hand and conjured a small purple flame on middle finger.

"I thought you were better. You're just a weak, naive snake."

It flicked the flame square on the helmet of the samurai. A cracking sound of metal was heard.

* * *

["You were scary back there."]

"Really?"

Misaka Mikoto walked across the streets of District 7 on the way to School Garden. It was just her physical body, though. The one in control was actually Shirai Kuroko.

_Three hours ago, 7:30 AM_

Both Mikoto and Kyouko were done wearing their light brown Tokiwadai vest. They went to their respective desks to get their school bags.

But to Mikoto, she had to do something else.

Shirai was sitting on the chair, in a fetal position as she hugged her legs with her hands and her head resting on her knee. She was snoring, not bothered by the school bag behind her.

Ever since Mikoto woke up, she didn't bother waking up the youkai as she will disturb her sleep. After she had done preparing for school, or when Kyouko had took much of her time inside the bathroom, the youkai had not woke up from her slumber.

Wasting no time to wait for Shirai, Mikoto placed a finger to her arm. The latter's finger sparked as she gave the former a shock and forcefully woke her up.

"Ow!"

As a side-effect of being shocked, her movements were too sudden, she herself turned into her signature flame and dove into Mikoto without realizing it.

"Wai-"

Before Mikoto could react on what the youkai just did, her body was igniting, even though she didn't feel herself burning. She felt a tingling sensation in her body. Her sense of touch was slowly disappearing, she couldn't feel the moist on her lips nor taste the saliva in her mouth. Coldness started to invade her body; ignoring all the heat around her.

The flame, unseen by Kyouko, was absorbed into her body.

'So this is what they mean by possessed feels like?' she thought.

"Misaka-san?"

Thankfully, she could still hear and see her surroundings. Her head moved to the left and faced Kyouko on its own.

"Is something wrong?"

She wanted to answer Kyouko's question, but whatever word came out from her mouth, the recipient wouldn't hear her.

"Ah, no, nothing..."

Her mouth spoke and moved on its own; she didn't think her answer was something like that, and there was only one thing to consider, even if she didn't want to believe it,

Shirai was in control of her body.

_Present, 7:55 AM_

In their current situation, earlier, Mikoto had suggested to Shirai that they buy an earpiece to make their conversations less awkward for the civilian around them and avoid strange gazes every time they talk. After they had bought the earpiece and the youkai had placed it on Mikoto's ear, they were chased by possessed Skill-Out grunts; Shirai had beat all of them shortly and eliminated the naive snake youkai.

"I wasn't trying to be scary."

["That youkai almost fainted from your words."]

"I didn't expect some of them were cowards."

["You were cool back there. You only used your strength on disposing those Skill-Outs."]

Shirai blushed at the compliment. She didn't understand why that compliment made her heart beat faster. Mikoto was only her companion to help her in her situation, right?

"T-Those were n-nothing... My strength is natural since I'm a youkai..."

Shirai stuttered as she arrived at the gates of School Garden, pulling out Mikoto's card from the bag and scanned it at the scanner, used to let the students enrolled schools inside the Garden enter freely. There is also a counter for outsider students to enter the Garden, courtesy that they have been invited by one of the students enrolled in the area or need a permission.

["But, you have to leave my body soon, Kyouko will soon notice the change."] Mikoto said wearily.

Shirai put a hand on the earpiece in her ear, under the assumption she was talking to someone on her phone to the female students around her.

"That's what I would like to do, but I don't know how to do it."

Mikoto let out a sigh.

Soon, they arrived at Tokiwadai Middle School. Shirai felt nervous as this was her first time interacting with a lot of human beings, apart from Mikoto. She had seen most of Tokiwadai's students; most of them acted too highly and arrogant due to their rich status and matched their ego, while some acted "ojou-sama" but goodhearted.

Since she had been accompanying Mikoto for two weeks, she knew the direction of her companion's classroom.

She entered the said classroom and saw that there were students talking to each other in their own group of friends. Those students stopped talking as they noticed the presence of Mikoto, who only examined the room, waiting for their reaction.

"Good morning, Misaka-sama."

Letting her instincts guide her, Shirai replied back with a smile,

"Good morning."

The students continued their chattering after Tokiwadai's Ace greeted them back, albeit they didn't know it was someone else.

Shirai exhaled as she sat to Mikoto's designated seat, removing the earpiece from her ear and put it in her pocket in the meantime. She rested her head on her right arm, looking at the blue sky outside; white clouds moving in a very slow motion.

* * *

After class, Kyouko told Shirai that she had to attend Judgment duties with Uiharu. The Cryokinesist waved goodbye to Shirai as she walked away, the latter waving back in response.

["What do you want to do for today?"]

Mikoto asked as Shirai pulled out the earpiece and put it in her ear.

Shirai thought up for a moment before answering, "I don't know. But, I think I can find some entertainment as I walk."

She walked away from Tokiwadai Middle School to School Garden to exit. She looked at the shops as she passed by other stalls. Some of the stalls she saw were interesting, but she looked for the stall that interest her most.

Until she saw a game center.

Sadly, her feeling of interest broke down as she heard a melody of a croaking frog.

["Oh. Someone's calling you."]

Shirai fumed as she pulled the phone from the skirt's pocket and opened Mikoto's green Gekota flip phone. Both saw the screen and read it was Saten Ruiko calling.

["Saten-san? That's unusual."]

Shirai pressed the "answer" button and removed the earpiece, instead putting the flip phone to her ear.

"Hello? Misaka-san? Are you free for today?"

The youkai had to rely to Mikoto in delivering the right words to the other person she was talking to. They had been in the cycle for a while, since Shirai had no idea how to exit Mikoto's body since it was first time for her to do it, albeit it was an accident.

["Tell her I'm free and ask her why."]

"Yeah, I'm free. Why?"

"There's something I want to tell you, since I couldn't bother Uiharu and Ajime-san." Saten said.

Mikoto instructed Shirai to agree on accompanying Saten, much to Shirai's disappointment to entertain herself.

"I see. Let's meet at Seventh Mist." Saten said as she hung up.

* * *

Shirai arrived at Seventh Mist. She saw several unoccupied tables with umbrellas perched in the middle of each tables, shading it from the heat of the sun. There was a girl wearing Sakugawa Middle uniform occupying in one of the tables, possibly waiting for someone.

She recognized her as Saten Ruiko, one of Mikoto's close friends.

"Saten-san!"

The girl looked at the source of the voice to see Shirai approaching her and sat at the other chair of the same table.

"What is that you want to tell me?" Shirai asked.

"It's about the latest urban legend - beings you can't see!" Saten said with excitement.

For Shirai, she didn't know what kind of urban legend that the other was talking about, and best to keep quiet. Mikoto supplied her information about the urban legend's subject as being them, youkai.

Without waiting for Shirai's reaction, Saten continued, "There is an item called Spirit Meter! It's said it can detect the presence of spiritual beings in a certain radius!"

"And it comes in two forms: Glasses and Dowsing Rod!"

Shirai wasn't sure if she should be excited or deny the existence of the said item. After all, urban legends are just rumors from credible to exaggerated, according to Mikoto.

Noticing her unresponsive friend, Saten lost her excitement and looked at Shirai. "Misaka-san, is something wrong?"

"I'm fine..." Shirai said. "W-Well... Is it, uh, possible to detect those... spirits?"

As a youkai, it was very awkward to refer herself in third person. If such items exist, a lot of events circulated in her mind. From beating them to death to lighting up an essence to exorcism. From the documents she had read in her free time back then, said exorcism only happen if the human is possessed by an evil spirit; if it was a spirit with no evil intentions, it's out of the league.

"Hmm..." Saten curled up her index finger and placed it on her chin. "I guess so."

"Before I came here to Academy City, I had watched videos about supernatural beings. Like that movie The Exorcist; it was based on a real case. Apart from coming here to have an ability, I always wanted to see a spirit, from Academy City or not."

That was the first time that Shirai heard that someone wanted to see such beings. Most people would just look at them ridiculously and saying: "That's a load crap." or "You believe in that?"

Saten's face suddenly brightened up, she seemed to have a good idea. "How about we look for those devices? After that, we can -"

The long haired girl was interrupted when they heard a male voice, whose tone sounded like he was searching for something.

"Where is it..."

The two girls looked at the high school student walking around in the distance. He was bending down and held two L-shaped metal wires, with the shorter leg as a handle in flesh colored thick plastic.

He approached the table that Saten and Shirai occupied absent-mindlessly. The only time he realized he was walking to an occupied table was when he bumped his head under the table.

He walked back, then stood firmly and saw two girls looking at him curiously.

"Umm... Have you seen this?" He pulled out a picture from his uniform's pocket and showed it to the girls.

The subject of the picture was a male adult dog of a Husky breed. He was sitting down, eating the dog food. He had a red leash around his neck, which had the word "GRAUL" imprinted on it.

"No... We didn't see a dog like that." Saten said as she examined the picture closer, then she looked at the student. "Why didn't you call Judgment to help you search for your lost dog?"

"Judgment? You mean those students wearing the green and white armband thing?" He said as he pointed his left upper arm.

"...Yeah." Saten was more dumbfounded that how come a student of Academy City never knew what Judgment was, and there was only one conclusion to it. "Are you a transfer student... uhh..."

"Call me Yoshiki." Yoshiki said as he felt rude for not introducing himself. "Yeah, I only transferred here yesterday. I've always wanted to have an ability, so I went here."

Saten looked at his dowsing rods. "Why are you using those to search for your dog?"

"Ah, these?" Yoshiki looked down at his rods. "It's said that I can find anything using this. I love reading those supernatural things in this world and can't wait to see an actual one."

Saten abruptly stood up from her seat. "Really!? Then, we can look for your dog then we look for a spirit!"

Yoshiki only smiled at her determination. "I would be glad if you help me."

Shirai examined Yoshiki as he kept conversing with Saten. While he looked gentle and human on the outside, he was a youkai, using his illusion ability. She didn't know if he noticed she was in the body of her companion. But that would be impossible for her pursuers to not know since Tora's attack.

* * *

The three left Seventh Mist and were currently walking across the streets of District 7, with Saten at the middle. To her left was Yoshiki and to her right was Shirai.

"Oh yeah, I haven't learned your names. It would be bad if we didn't know each others' names." Yoshiki said, looking at the two girls.

"Saten Ruiko."

"Misaka Mikoto."

"Those are nice names. Say, what do we look first after we find my dog?"

"Kyuubi!"

Shirai's heart skipped a beat at Saten's reply. She had expected this would happen. There were a lot of supernatural beings to search for, why something related to kitsune?

"Kyuubi, eh?" Yoshiki said with interest. "Be careful of them when you see one."

"Why?" Saten asked.

"They might bite you without notice." Yoshiki said as he spared a glance to Shirai behind Saten.

"Doesn't matter!" Saten exclaimed as pumped her fist to her shoulder level. "Misaka-san will fry that kyuubi in no time!" Then she turned to Shirai who was looking ahead, "Right, Misaka-san?"

Realizing that the sentence was meant for her, Shirai looked at Saten with a surprised expression. "Ah, yes, I-I'll fry that kyuubi."

"What's wrong, Misaka-san?" Saten asked with worry. "You've been down since we talked about the urban legend."

"W-Well... What would you do if you found that... kyuubi?"

"I will make that kyuubi my pet!" Saten said as she imagined with her own fantasy; which involved her petting the kyuubi, throwing a disc and let it chase the flying object, among many others that involved the kyuubi looked like a dog rather than a fox.

["Somehow... that sounds more like she's trying to take care a stray dog."]

Shirai nodded at Mikoto's statement.

"By the way Yoshiki-san, how did you lose your dog?" Saten asked.

"I usually leave him alone the dorm room whenever I go to school. Due to my carelessness, I left the window open and my dog probably escaped from there. He must be searching for me because he was lonely."

"Your dog must be really loyal to you." Saten said, trying to cheer up the mood.

"So loyal he escaped to my dorm room." Yoshiki added, chuckling at the idea of a loyal dog.

"Any possible places?"

"I've checked Seventh Mist, playground, game center and artificial riverbank. I also checked on schools, but no luck."

"Have you asked people about it?"

"No. I don't want to bother people about it."

"Then, give me the picture then I'll ask if they saw your dog."

Yoshiki grabbed the picture from his white polo's pocket and gave it to Saten who immediately grabbed it and went for the nearest person she saw.

He sweatdropped at the act, and used this opportunity to talk to Shirai.

"How does it feel to be a human?"

"It was great, even I wished to be a human instead of being a successor."

"I wish I could say the same, but they are a lot easier to fool with illusions."

'As if you weren't one yourself.' Shirai thought as she found it funny how ironic his statement was. It was spilling all over and he didn't even realize it.

["Isn't he an illusion himself? Well, according to Tora, that is. Wait, why is he talking to us when he knew about you?"]

Shirai immediately realized what Mikoto meant and wanted to ask Yoshiki about it.

Sadly before she could even act Saten suddenly came back from her question spree from the civilian around them.

"I finally know where Yoshiki-san's dog is!"

* * *

At 177th Judgment Branch office, Kyouko, Uiharu and Konori were investigating about the latest case after all telepath espers were interrogated. They all had alibis to clear their name.

"When we will be ever to finish this case?" Kyouko asked as she stopped typing and stretched her arms upward.

"This is getting troublesome." Konori commented as she drank a pack of Musashino Milk.

"Even that Dummy Check user has her own alibi. Now I'm not even sure if we're looking at the right things."

"The attacks only occur in District 7 and the number of victims barely increased since yesterday."

"Eh? Only District 7? No wonder why the victims were only few and within our reach."

"We can use it to our advantage and narrow our search."

* * *

Shirai, Saten and Yoshiki were at the park where a certain vending machine resided.

It was devoid of any people. If there were any, they were just either a passer-by or unfortunate.

"So this is the place, huh." Yoshiki mused. "I've been here twice before."

"Alright! We'll search for this place and look for the dog!" Saten said.

They walked along the park as they looked around to search for the said dog. They went to different hiding places in case the dog was there, to no avail. Even ridiculous places such as trash can didn't help their search. They settled to search in the areas that had a lot of trees and plants, until Saten looked behind at a certain vending machine.

"Ah!"

There was a dog sitting very close to the machine and stared at Saten.

Shirai and Yoshiki approached Saten; they took a peek behind the machine and saw the dog that Yoshiki was looking for.

"Graul!" He called out and smiled at the dog.

"Woof!" The dog jumped onto Yoshiki and licked on his face, tickling him.

Saten and Shirai watched the heartwarming scene, they smiled as the dog finally reunited with his owner. But for Shirai, there were a lot of questions in her mind.

["That dog..."] Mikoto said as she half-cried at the scene.

Shirai took three steps backward and turned around.

"What's wrong, Onee-sama?" She asked in the lowest tone possible.

["Seeing the dog reunited with his owner is too cute... if only the owner wasn't a youkai..."]

"Is that it?"

["I also wanted to touch the dog, but the weak electricity emitting from my body... Oh yeah, is that dog any way a youkai?"]

Shirai turned her head to her left and glanced behind her, examining the dog with a piercing glare. After a few seconds, Shirai removed her glare and turned to face the horizon before her.

"It's only an illusion created by that Yoshiki. I don't know what he's trying to do with that dog, but I don't like it."

"It's about time I should take my leave." Yoshiki suddenly said.

Saten looked at him with a disappointing look while Shirai only looked at him.

"Why? I was so looking forward for our supernatural search."

Yoshiki chuckled. "We can try it tomorrow. Invite your friends if you want."

"Okay!"

The male student put his pet dog down and turned around, walking away.

* * *

Back in the Judgment office, the three members of 177th Branch continued their work after their short break.

"Everyone who had optical manipulation ability are also clear." Kyouko sighed.

"This is getting nowhere." Uiharu said.

"Is there anything we can do?"

"This is..." Konori gasped as she read through the article on her screen. "Ajime-san, Uiharu-san, I have something that may interest you two."

"What is it, Konori-senpai?" Kyouko asked as she and Uiharu walked behind and looked at their senpai's laptop screen.

"I'm not sure if I'm going to believe this, but this is the first time there's a case of 'spiritual possession'."

"That should be impossible, since this is Academy City." Kyouko said.

"You two should read this." Konori instructed.

Both Kyouko and Uiharu leaned closer to the screen and read the entire paragraph.

_Location: A Certain Hospital _

_Time: 10:30 _

_Title: Skill-Out member reports of spiritual possession _

_Article: Six Skill-Out members were hospitalized for receiving multiple injuries. 7:49 in the morning, they were roaming around District 7, where the nearest place they were was near School Garden. According to them, they felt strange sensations as they lose focus of themselves, as if they felt they were going to collapse - but they were wrong. They were half-conscious. Then, "they" approached a middle school student, whose appearance they cannot remember, and also the uniform. That student took down all of them in a few blows and they lost consciousness afterwards. They woke up in a certain hospital without memories of such ordeal except for a few details. Those Skill-Out members, even if they wanted to deny, had experienced spiritual possession, a first in Academy City!]_

"A middle school student, taking Skill-Out members with no problem?" Kyouko said.

"But that sounds weird," Uiharu wondered. "why Skill-Out, of all people? And why would those, uh, spirits target that student?"

"Looks like we're finally getting a lead, even if it was a very little one." Kyouko said, her drive to continue the case returning.

"Eh? Ajime-san, you're considering it?"

"It doesn't matter if we believe it or not, as long we find the cause to all this."

* * *

_"I've come back from my mission, my lord." A high school student knelt down on one knee. _

_"Welcome back, Yoshiki - or rather, Kamakiri." _

_Kamakiri shifted in his youkai form, donning his light green flame. _

_"How was the mission?" His lord inquired. _

_"Heiress was unfamiliar with her ability to possess a human. And the lesser soldiers were eliminated by her." _

_The lord smirked at Kamakiri's mission report. "It doesn't matter if they were eliminated or not. Just proceed to your next mission, or bring a friend if you prefer." _

_"If the traitor still retaliates, then I have no choice but to make things drastic." _

_At the mere mention of traitor felt like a stab in the heart for Kamakiri. His lord had always called her a traitor. He didn't even know why. He only knew that the massacre was caused by the Heiress. But this wasn't the time to mop around thinking about it. _

_"Kamakiri." _

_"Yes, my lord?" _

_"Don't make the same mistake as that liar Tora. Do you understand?" _

_Kamakiri bowed down and left. _

_The lord sighed. _

_"They really proved themselves to be useful at certain times." _

_"They think my purpose is to capture the traitor for their sake, but I have a far greater purpose..."_

* * *

_Time: 9:15_

At Tokiwadai Girls' Dormitory, Room 208, Shirai currently sat on Mikoto's chair, staring at the empty desk in front of her. Kyouko was sleeping peacefully, as usual, after their work in Judgment.

"How do I get out of this body..."

At the end of the day, Shirai still didn't know how to exit the body. Then she thought of an idea. It must be the most ridiculous way she thought of, but it might be the only way to exit.

Mikoto had a bad feeling about this.

["Kuroko... What are you planning?"]

The last thing she saw was the desk became bigger in her eyes and heard a loud thud before a black out.

* * *

**A/N**: Cliché, cliché everywhere. Slice of life is my weakness. While this chapter only demonstrates part of Kuroko's ability, it still had the plot kicking. Now that I'm at the fifth chapter, I'll ask a question and I hope my readers/reviewers/whoever-you-are answer this either by PM or review. "Am I crossing the Out Of Character borderline?", with the exception of Kyouko and Kuroko, had I made the characters almost OOC? I want to avoid it as much as possible. And this is the first chapter that it took me almost six freaking days to complete due to how ordinary the day was.

Also, no betas in this chapter since I asked Cross if he could beta this chapter so I know whether I improved or not. I didn't receive a reply so I had to rely on my own skills. I hope I did better than the first three chapters.

P.S.: Railgun S Episode 1 was so awesome. Misaki, helicopter scene and the opening were the best parts of the episode. I watched it for like 10 times and I'm still not bored of it.

P.S.S.: Don't forget to review!


	6. Taiketsu - Showdown

_Thud._

Shirai fell from the chair, face flat on the wooden floor. She sat up on her bent knees as she put her hand on the sore spot in her forehead, rubbing it to ease the pain.

It was only 3:54 in the morning.

Due to the pain she had received, she didn't feel like sleeping anymore and so, waited for Mikoto to wake up.

Suddenly, she heard Mikoto mumbling.

"I just finished washing my face... hey, you're the guy... and his dog..."

Shirai didn't know what Mikoto was dreaming about. Then she remembered the encounter with Yoshiki and his dog created from his illusion. (He had a reason to create a make up situation. There was no challenge during her encounter with him.)

Considering it was futile to think deeper into the issue, Shirai looked at the sleeping figure of Mikoto.

Just looking at her companion made her heart thump loudly. She did not know the reason why. For the past few days, she only felt gratitude for Mikoto saving her and felt closer with each other as time pass by. By human definition, they were best friends.

She took her sight off Mikoto. Her mind felt like exploding as her thoughts drifted to _other_ things.

Touch. Feel. Tas-

She shook her head.

'I... I wouldn't think of indecent things to _my_ Onee-sama.'

..._My?_

Shirai clasped her head with her hands, desperately trying to think of a diversion to get rid of such thoughts.

For a 95 year old Heiress, this was the first time she felt an emotion, known to humans as...

_Love._

* * *

"Hey, Kamakiri, when are we going to proceed to our next task?"

Kamakiri's companion, Inu, was possessing a body of a male middle school student while Kamakiri still possessed the same high school student.

"I've told you to call me Yoshiki in this situation." Kamakiri stated, annoyed by Inu's blunt name call. "Kamakiri is an unusual name in this city."

"As if Inu isn't one."

Both Kamakiri and Inu were inside the Julian family restaurant, sat across each other. Both had sweets and juices on their table.

"Do you still have the memory?" Kamakiri asked.

"Yeah. What will you do to it?"

"In case my first plan fails, I'll involve everyone related to the Heiress' companion by letting you read her friend's memory. I'm sure you know who will be involved and not."

"Crossing out those who shouldn't be involved sounds boring. By involving those unrelated to that pesky companion, the tension gets stronger, don't you think?"

"You sound pretty confident of yourself."

"I don't like to be called Inu. Call me Aza-"

"Be quiet."

Kamakiri sipped on his juice while Inu fumed in anger.

* * *

At Tokiwadai Middle School, it was lunch time.

Mikoto and Kyouko sat in a table for four outside the school. They occupied the same table once again as it had gave them a good scenery and the air that they breathe in there was always fresh and clean.

"After all this, we've only made a tiny bit of progress."

Last night, Kyouko told Mikoto about their Judgment duty and their progress. When Kyouko mentioned that Skill-Outs were hospitalized and asked Mikoto whether if she knew about it, but she claimed to have no idea about the incident.

"At least you guys finally have a lead." Mikoto said.

"Yeah, with more search, we can hunt down the culprit."

As a member of 177th Judgment Branch and one of the more responsible member, Kyouko was determined in looking for the culprit no matter how difficult it would be for them to get a lead.

"By the way, Misaka-san," Kyouko said, "Do you believe in spiritual possession?"

Mikoto thought about it for a moment. She couldn't deny that it was real, as she had seen it firsthand by Washi and experienced it once a few days ago during an unpleasant timing.

"I think so."

"Really, this is the first time we're going to handle a case that couldn't be explained by science."

"How are you going to solve the possession case then?"

"Hmm?" Kyouko looked at Mikoto curiously.

"I mean, you're going to solve those kind of cases, right? You should need someone who knows how to remove the evil spirits from the victim."

Kyouko eyed Mikoto suspiciously. "Misaka-san... you seem informed of this."

"Eh? Ah, no, it's just that, I used to read up on supernatural stuffs. Yeah!"

Her kouhai sighed and stared at her cup of tea, observing the reflection. "I just can't believe this is happening."

"Well, this is Academy City. Anything can happen, right?"

"Anything but this. So long as it can be explained and proven by scientific data. After all, Academy City is a city of science."

Under the table that the two of them occupied, Shirai sat in a position fitting for a lady, her legs on her side. Ever since her dilemma this early morning, she had become awfully quiet and couldn't even face Mikoto even if she wanted to.

* * *

On the rooftop of one of the buildings in District 7, Kamakiri and Inu were standing in the middle of it along with two other figures. All of them were in their original form. Kamakiri was beside Inu, across them were two youkai who had dirty white and black flame.

"Alright."

Kamakiri made a long paper that was almost as long as his height out of his flame appear from his hand. He browsed from the topmost part of the paper and looked at the black and white duo youkai.

"Polar and Panda," he looked at the dirty white and black youkai in front of him. "Your mission is to challenge both the Heiress and the human that is always with her. Understood?"

The two youkai nodded in confirmation.

Inu glared at Kamakiri. "What the hell are you doing making these two fight? These two are so damn slow! You know what power the heiress and her companion are capable of, Aaah!?"

"Don't underestimate these two. They may be slow, but the power they have is enough for those two to be injured in one punch."

Inu looked back at Polar and Panda, both staring at him back.

He comically jumped at the twin youkai, hoping to what Kamakiri deduced was right.

The only response he got was Polar, who was across him earlier, clenched his right fist as he pulled back and thrust forward with all his might at the incoming Inu square in the chest.

"GUAH!?"

Kamakiri was right, Inu thought. The feeling of getting hit with Polar's punch comparable to a 10 metric ton anvil was too much for him.

Receiving the full hit, Inu flew backwards due to the momentum he had received from the punch. Unfortunately, he landed 50 feet downwards from the building onto the concrete ground.

Kamakiri stared at the spot where Inu fell.

"That escalated quickly."

Looking back at the paper, Kamakiri read his long damn list of things to do. Whether or not it had anything to do with his orders, only he himself knew.

At the edge of the rooftop, a brown, flaming hand could be seen trying to hoist its body up. Finally, Inu succeeded and he slumped over the rooftop, with only half of his body remaining.

Kamakiri stopped reading and looked at Inu. "Welcome back, Inu."

"Welcome back, my ass! If you had caught me before I fell, I would've rested on the rooftop recovering from that blow, but NO! You had to make me climb all the way up while the pain was still tingling on my chest!"

"It's because you're an idiot for underestimating these two."

"Ah yes, other than being your personal memory card, you made me a laughing stock for them!"

"Hey, Inu, be careful of your words! You'll cause a massive chaos just by doing that!"

"I don't care what kind of crap I'm talking about, this is your fault for making me look like a dogshit! Look, my flame is even colored BROWN, of all colors!"

"Complain to the lord, not to me! Besides, aren't the majority of the dog species brown?"

"Wha-" Inu flinched at Kamakiri's direct question, but regained his composure quickly. "Even a fucking husky dog isn't colored brown! Why do I get the shit color!?"

"If you keep complaining about unnecessary things, our readers are going to get bored!"

Both Kamakiri and Inu heard a cracking sound. No, it wasn't the sound of a glass breaking, it was the sound of knuckles popping. Both of the youkai who appeared to have broke the fourth wall turned to the source of the sound.

It was from Polar and Panda.

There was an unnatural aura coming from the twin youkai, as if a devil had entered their bodies. The aura was so menacing that both Kamakiri and Inu's bodies convulsed. It seemed like they triggered something to snap the twins.

Polar walked slowly to Inu while Panda to Kamakiri.

Fear prevented the two from moving. If both Polar and Panda's anger caused them to feel like this, how would they even react to their lord if he was angered.

Polar grabbed Inu's neck and lifted him high, Panda only clenched his fist as he stopped just in front of Kamakiri. The twin youkai prepared their 10 metric ton punch, and...

_Pow._

Inu and Kamakiri crashed towards the taller building just across the building they were standing on. There were two youkai-shaped craters as their body fell towards the ground.

* * *

"Kuroko."

"Y-Yes?"

Mikoto was walking alongside Shirai in the streets, with the earpiece attached on her left ear. "Is there any way to eliminate the victims possessed by your pursuers while they were in custody of Judgment or Anti-Skill?"

Shirai put a hand on her chin and looked down at the concrete ground, she was glad that Mikoto didn't ask why she was silent the whole day, though she couldn't help it because her heart would beat faster and faster each time she looked or even talk to her.

Going back to the topic at hand, she replied, "It won't be easy to detect their weak points while possessing a human body. They should be either in their default form, or their alternate or preferred form."

"I don't think someone in Academy City would know, or even believe it in the first place. Besides, the real culprit is actually right beside me."

Shirai felt an arrow piercing through her heart. When she first heard that Kyouko was really determined in looking for the culprit, she felt guilty for even landing in the human world because she didn't expect her pursuers to possess unrelated people.

Their lord must be tired of giving the same orders over and over again and so, some of the youkai decided to take things into their own hand, she thought.

"But, I didn't expect it to turn out like this. I only wanted to escape from them." Shirai pouted.

"You did escape, but brought your evil followers here."

"T-That hurts, Onee-sama..."

"Did you say something?"

"Ah, no, nothing!"

While Mikoto's words may be blunt and direct to the point, but it was sadly true.

"Oh yeah, about that Yoshiki and his dog... I can't help but have a bad feeling about this..."

* * *

A delinquent was running away in a dark alleyway. Kyouko followed suit. She had been chasing the delinquent for a while now.

"Wait!" She yelled.

The delinquent taunted. "Just try to catch up with me!"

Kyouko formed an ice ball on her palm and threw it over the delinquent. Landing on the solid ground, the ice ball exploded into several sharp, icy spikes who stood vertically up high in front of the delinquent, unable to move any further because the spikes were in the way.

He whirled around to see Kyouko making a pose, showing her Judgment armband on her left upper arm and declared, "This is Judgment. If you don't want to get hurt, please submit silently."

"Like hell I would!" The delinquent roared as he conjured a dark, yellow flame and hurled it at her.

'A pyrokinesist!?' Kyouko thought in panic as she sidestepped the attack.

"Now if you'll excuse me, people like you should stop poking your noses where it doesn't belong."

The delinquent turned around and punched the ice spears with relative ease, shattering it in pieces. He walked away, leaving Kyouko who had her back leaning against the side of the alley.

"That delinquent... what sort of a pyrokinesist is he...? Why do I get the feeling that he's not really an esper."

"Ajime-san!"

Kyouko's thoughts suddenly trailed off as Uiharu called to her.

"Ah, yes, Uiharu-san?"

"What happened? You let the delinquent escape."

"Did you see that delinquent fire a yellow flame at me?"

"Um... Yeah. Why?"

"Do you think he's an esper?"

"No one else besides espers can have an ability."

"Anyway, I'll continue to find out what kind of plans they have."

"Okay, please be careful."

Kyouko slowly walked forward, determined to know what were the delinquent's plans. She needed to be careful in case another one appears in front of her or behind her. She was glad that the alleyway she was in only goes one way, so there's no reason for her to lose the delinquent.

Earlier, her branch office had received reports of students being stalked, or sometimes being kidnapped. Most of these students were from Sakugawa and Tokiwadai. Strangely, those who were kidnapped were released soon after and the kidnapper even apologized for getting the wrong person.

It sounds like they were looking for a specific person. But who? What were their plans? Why were the students being targeted? What exactly were those delinquents after?

"Geez. I almost got myself caught by that Judgment-something girl."

Kyouko stopped in her tracks as soon as she heard the voice of the delinquent she was chasing earlier.

"Idiot. Ya should be more careful next time. Kamakiri's on his way for his mission so he'll keep his targets busy while we gather victims to raise the tension the heiress and her companion."

The delinquent was with another person. She was curious to what they were talking about. There were some things she couldn't quite understand. Kamakiri seemed like an unusual name for someone living in Academy City. What did they mean by heiress and her companion? Were they pursing someone from Europe who had escaped to Academy City? If that was the case, then why they were targeting Sakugawa and Tokiwadai students?

"Oh yeah, Lion, do you still remember the names of those two girls that Kamakiri told us a while ago and the memory that Inu gave us?"

"Yeah. I think it was Misaka-something and Saten-something. And yeah, I still remember the faces of those girls that Kamakiri wanted us to capture. Too bad we didn't get their names. After all, Inu can only see images, not hear and see the memories."

Kyouko tensed up as she heard those very familiar names. Misaka-san and Saten-san were being targeted? She must tell them. But, she needed to hear more.

"Oh yeah," she heard Lion speak, "I'm sure it's not my imagination... but that Judgment girl looks like one of the four girls from the memory..."

It took a moment of silence before Lion suddenly realized something.

"AH! IT WAS HER!"

Busted. She mentally cursed.

"Then what are you waiting for, Lion!?"

Kyouko furrowed her eyebrows, inhaling deeply and exhaled. As a Judgment member, she must protect those two from these delinquents.

Without thinking things through, she boldly appeared before them.

"This is Judgment." She declared.

Lion scoffed at the accusation. "Geez. You're stubborn, I told you to stop poking your nose where it doesn't belong, and here you are attempting to stop us. You think we're some third-rate loser like these people?"

Kyouko didn't respond. She only raised her hand and created a translucent blue spear made of ice of length around 1.2 meters.

She slid her right foot and bent forward, holding the spear with both hands, ready to strike at any moment.

Lion and his partner, Same also transformed into their humanoid beast form. Lion had a mane like a real lion and his body was muscular. Parts of his body were armored, most prominently on his shoulders. There seemed to be a golden circular object on his left shoulder and was a bit different from the one on his right shoulder.

Lion's partner, Same, was a blue and white humanoid shark standing on its own hind legs, his hands were fins. His stomach had a golden belt; at the middle of it was golden circle. His eyes held a menacing look.

"You'll regret that you've crossed paths with us." Same's voice was deadly, as if he had predicted how Kyouko would die in advance.

* * *

"Chaser!"

Mikoto and Shirai were at the park.

Mikoto kicked the side of the vending machine and a random soda popped out,

"I kept wondering whether if it was okay to kick a machine that requires you to pay for your drinks." Shirai stated.

"Don't mind it." Mikoto said as she grabbed the soda. "That thing ate my 10,000 yen anyway."

Shirai thought. Eh? A machine that eats money...?

After finishing the soda in one gulp, Mikoto threw the can of soda into the trash can just beside the vending machine.

"Misaka-san!"

Both Mikoto and Shirai looked at the source of the voice, and saw Saten running and waving her hands high towards them, and...

"Why is she with that youkai...?" Shirai asked as she eyed Kamakiri suspiciously.

Mikoto noted Kamakiri's arrival with Saten, who was eager to look for a youkai. He must have had a plan up his sleeve.

Stopping in front of Mikoto, Saten declared with excitement, "Misaka-san! Yoshiki-san told me that he was free and could join us for spirit hunting!"

Kamakiri looked around the park. "You didn't bring your other friends along with you?" He asked, looking at Saten.

Saten looked back at him. "No... Uiharu and Ajime-san are busy with Judgment work, so I couldn't invite them."

"I see..." Kamakiri - or rather Yoshiki in his current form - sighed, disappointed that he wasn't able to predict the things should have happened.

"So, where are we going to look for our first spirit!?" Saten was so excited for the hunt that she herself even managed make her eyes sparkle with excitement and pulled out the dowsing rods that Kamakiri gave her before they arrived.

Kamakiri chuckled at the enthusiastic long haired girl. "Saten-san, I think we already found the spirit you really wanted to see."

Soon, two golden armored samurais donning dirty white and black flame arrived at the park, stopping behind Kamakiri. Both Mikoto and Shirai didn't like the turn of events. Kamakiri did plan for something after all.

"Eh? Where, Yoshiki-san?" Saten looked around the place to search, but it was only the two of them present.

"Here." Kamakiri grinned darkly as he raised his right arm and snapped his fingers, a familiar mist overlapped the park.

In Saten's view, she saw three new individuals. One who was beside Mikoto looked human, but had the kitsune's features. The other two was beside Kamakiri, who both had the golden samurai attire. The figure of their hands and faces were only flames of dirty white and black.

What interest her the most was the human-fox who was glaring at Kamakiri. She wanted to approach that human-fox, but she stopped when she looked at Kamakiri and the two samurais behind him.

"Y-Yoshiki-san... Who are those two behind you...?" She had a bad feeling about this. Kamakiri was different from his usual self as his grin looked like he was going to have the time of his life, in a rather devilish manner.

"Just some bodyguards who will be fighting."

* * *

Kyouko was severely disadvantaged in her fight against the two youkai. Both Lion and Same told her that they were using the bodies of the delinquents the whole time, forcing her not to casually throw her powers about, lest she accidentally injure or kill them.

Lion raised his hand and slammed the ground, generating a shockwave that shook the ground violently. Same held on while Kyouko tried to balance herself.

With the cryokinesist's guard down, Same leapt at her. She anticipated the attack, raising her spear horizontally to block Same's fin slash attack. Both clashed on the defensive and offensive. Kyouko barely managed to push Same away from the lock. Because she had exerted herself too hard, she almost collapsed to the ground but she used her spear as a support and stood limply.

"I've told you, you'll regret this." Same said. "Why don't you just give up?"

"I'm a member of Judgment, that's why I have to do my job properly." Kyouko said as her ice spear changed its shape, turning into a katana.

Lion leapt at her, preparing his sharp black nails. Kyouko crouched and slid forward, dodging his attack.

Kyouko dashed for Same, who raised his fin in response, ready to counterattack at any moment. But the cryokinesist had predicted the move and raised her katana, blocking his attack. She sliced the fin into half and thrust her katana right through his stomach and through the golden belt that he wore.

All three of them heard a crack.

Same's weak point had been broken. Both he and Lion knew that destroying their own weak points could only mean death. His body started to fade into yellow particles of light.

"To think that I was defeated by a mere human being... No... This wasn't the first time. Tora was slain by a mere human..."

Same's lower body had completely turned to yellow particles of light.

"Remember this, kid," he looked at Kyouko, "Stop poking your nose where it doesn't belong. Knowing too much only spells trouble for you."

As soon as he finished his sentence, Same disappeared. No traces was left of him except for the unconscious body of the delinquent.

"SAME!" Lion yelled, his voice broken.

He glared at Kyouko and growled as she prepared to fight once again. The anger within him continued to rise after the death of his partner.

He roared as he released the anger and charged at Kyouko.

Kyouko dodged Lion's attack. One thing was for sure: They have their own weak points located in different parts of their body.

She was not able to spot Lion's weak point yet while he attacked wildly in the fit of his rage for his partner had been slain. She couldn't blame him. Kyouko only wanted to suppress them, yet she didn't expect that she would kill someone. It was only accidental. Even though she didn't know what they were, she felt guilty as Judgment didn't teach students how to kill someone indiscriminately.

What did she know, she only wanted to stop them from causing trouble. And protect Mikoto and Saten from them.

At the corner of her eye, she noticed a striking circular gold at his left shoulder, which was very different from the normal silver plating of his shoulder armor.

'That must be it!'

Lion ignited his nails with his flame and thrust his hand at Kyouko. She crouched at his attack, leaving her with an opening.

Kyouko thrust the katana, aiming for the circle on his left shoulder. Lion noticed it and used his left hand to grab the blade, stopping it as the blade was only an inch away from touching the circle.

"Do you think I'll fall for the same trick again?" Lion said. His tone was dark and cold.

* * *

Shirai punched at Panda's (taking the form of the said animal, almost the same height as her) incoming fist. Both fists collided with each other. But Shirai quickly fell back and shook the hand she used to counter Panda's.

"T-That hurt!" She yelled at the black flamed samurai. "What kind of weights did you use!?"

As silent as Panda was, he didn't answer her.

In Mikoto's situation, her electric attacks barely had any effect on Polar, who had the form of a polar bear (10 centimeters taller than Mikoto) as he kept using his fist to block the electric attacks. One time she used her magnetism ability to create an iron sand sword to combat Polar with it, but deemed futile as Polar could break it with his punch.

'That youkai... can he negate my ability like that idiot?'

Polar attacked again using his fist at Mikoto. She leapt sideward as the youkai's attack connected to the ground, creating a small crater, trapping his hand. He removed the hand without problem and looked at Mikoto.

'Whoa... to think that he stuck his hand with a punch, there's no doubt this youkai is really strong.'

Saten was confused. She didn't understand why Mikoto and the human-fox were battling Kamakiri's 'bodyguards' who had suddenly changed their form.

She looked at Kamakiri, who was watching the battle, smirking.

"Yoshiki-san! Why are you attacking Misaka-san!?"

Kamakiri simply looked at her. "Girl, you have a lot to know before you can even understand what was going on."

He stared to approach her slowly. Saten dropped the dowsing rods she had hoped to use it to find a spirit. To see what she cannot see. Yes... it was like the Level Upper incident. She slowly stepped backwards as Kamakiri continued to approach her.

"Saten-san!"

Mikoto sprinted away from Polar as she tackled Kamakiri from the side. He landed a feet away from Saten as a result.

"Ah! Misaka-san! Behind you!"

Polar was already looming over Mikoto, his fist prepared to hit her. Mikoto quickly countered it by throwing her palms upward, receiving the full hit and she was thrown back far away from Kamakiri, landing on her back.

Her body felt shaky after receiving Polar's attack, more so on her arms. She staggered as she sat up.

Saten ran to Mikoto and knelt down. "Misaka-san! Are you alright?"

"K-Kinda..." Mikoto replied wearily. "That punch really hurt. My arms were numb from the blow. If I didn't use my hands, I might have been ended up some broken bones."

"Is there any way to defeat them?"

"There should be a weak point hiding in them somewhere."

"Weak point?"

"It's a golden circular coin placed on certain parts of their body."

Saten thought about it. She remembered seeing it from Polar. It was faint, yet there was a shimmer of gold under Polar's skin on his palm.

"I think I saw it from that polar bear under his right palm." She said.

Ah... Saten, always the good sight for the most unusual things.

Shirai was still having problems against Panda. Panda had a great advantage against her in terms of power; he can use both of his hands for attack and counter. But his agility was easily outclassed by Shirai.

She had seen Panda's weak point, on his right upper arm hidden by the fur. She only needed to find a way to break the weak point.

Panda clenched his right fist and attacked Shirai again. As the fist approached near her, she crouched and leapt to her left. Panda quickly withdrew his right fist and quickly attacked with his left fist.

'A feint!?' Shirai thought as she crossed her arms in front of her, taking the blow of the attack.

She slid backwards due to the impact. Her arms hurt a lot, and glad that her bones didn't break or else she'd be in a tough situation.

Thinking of a plan, Shirai ignited her right hand with her flame and charged at Panda.

Panda used his right hand again to counter, but Shirai was prepared. She quickly side stepped before the attack reached her. She saw a shimmer of gold beneath the black fur on his upper right arm. Using her hand, she slashed through Panda's upper arm.

_Crack._

Panda merely fell to the ground face first. His body started to dissolve in yellow particle of light. Shirai merely looked at his dissolving figure. Panda didn't react at the slightest. Looking at Shirai with sorrowful eyes, his body completely dissolved, leaving no traces at all.

Shirai looked at Mikoto's current situation. She was clearly not in good shape for she kept dodging Polar's fist with her limp arms.

Using her magnetic ability, Mikoto vibrated the iron sand around her as a substitute for her arms. It was hard to aim at the right palm of Polar as he kept moving his fist about.

That is, until Shirai jumped behind Polar and hung on his shoulders. Polar thrashed his body, attempting to shake her off. But his thrashing was futile when Shirai had her arms circled around Polar's neck and held both of her hands in a lock.

"Kuroko!?"

"Onee-sama! This is your chance!"

Mikoto nodded. She waited for the right time to strike. When Polar's right palm was exposed, Mikoto narrowed her eyes and her feet sent electricity to the ground, raising iron sand which pierced through the palm.

Polar's weak point had finally cracked and he dissolved in light particles just like his partner.

Shirai landed soundly and walked towards Mikoto. She stopped just in front of Mikoto and looked at her hands. She held both of Mikoto's hands with hers and raised it to her chin level. Purple flames started to wrap Mikoto's forearm and hands.

It was warm, pleasant and relaxing. It felt like her arms were being massaged with smooth hands.

Shirai, whose heart was palpitating again, let the feelings took over as she kissed Mikoto's hand softly.

The other quickly noticed this and quickly pulled out her hands.

"What are you doing?"

Shirai finally realized what she did. She had just kissed her companion's hand impulsively. Mikoto's hands were so smooth, free from any callous. Her mind decided to shut itself down and her heart acted on its own.

"A-Ah... I -"

"Uwaaah!"

Both Mikoto and Shirai looked at Saten, who was standing beside the former, looking at Shirai with awe.

"Y-You're a kyuubi!"

Saten glomped at Shirai, who was dumbfounded at the act, but before she could say anything, a familiar and an almost forgotten voice suddenly cut in.

"Ha... Haha... Hahahaha!"

The three girls looked at the source, and it was Kamakiri laughing madly.

"I thought I could capture the heiress with just those mute twins, but I guess I'll use a drastic method!"

Kamakiri suddenly ignited himself into flames and vanished. With that, the overlapped area they were in disappeared and they were back at the park once again.

Saten looked back at Shirai, but she found herself hugging nothing.

"E-Eh!? She disappeared!?"

"Saten-san..."

Saten immediately looked at Mikoto. "Misaka-san! You have a lot to tell!"

"Ah... Eh...

I guess I have no choice..."

* * *

Kyouko dropped her katana and it fell to the ground broken into pieces. She leaned on the wall and panted for air.

Lion was finally defeated. He was her first enemy that took her long to beat. He was very, very strong.

As if to prove how difficult of an opponent he was, several parts of her body had gaping wounds. From her shoulder, her arm and her leg. She used her ability to freeze the injured areas until she gets back to Judgment office and get it treated.

She looked at the unconscious bodies of the delinquents for the final time before walking away, staggering.

* * *

In an abandoned warehouse, Inu sat cross-legged at the floor.

Suddenly, a light green flame appeared. It was Kamikiri.

"So, how's your little mission?"

"Just like I expected, those two are really good, to the point where I'll have to resort to drastic measures."

"And you told me earlier that you were going to capture that long haired girl just in case those two beat Polar and Panda?"

Inu's sudden question rang a bell inside Kamakiri. He did remember saying it, but due to the chaos, he had left the girls alone without even trying to capture a certain long haired girl.

"Shit... To think that I'd completely forget it..."

Kamakiri's sudden realization struck a nerve in Inu.

"YOU SHITHEAD! YOU EVEN CALL YOURSELF MORE CLEVER THAN TORA! YOU TEND TO FORGET THINGS WHEN YOU'RE HIGH ON DRUGS! DIIIIIIE!"

* * *

**A/N:** I posted this late because I only finished this on Monday (because procrastination). For those who watched 'Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san.', you'll get the reference very quick; even one of the references I put there was an inside joke, having the same VA.

In an unrelated note, please tell me if the quality of the story (writing style not included) starts to get bad or worse so I can fix it... Because I'm starting to get paranoid as the story progress. I haven't handled having to write more than six chapters on my own, most of the stories I wrote ended up dead due to writer's block and my paranoid if I was going cliché over the top. Yeah, my first take on humor is a fourth wall breaking. Not sure if I did it.

On another note: I'll be revising Chapter 1, 2, 3 and 5 on a random date.

Finally, who else thought that Kuroko was going Domon Kasshu at Panda when her hand was burning? I hope I'm not the only one who thought she'll be shouting ERUPTING BURNING FINGER! at him. Hey, that makes a good omake.

Kudos to CrossFaded for beta'ing this chapter. I learned during the first beta read and I hope I'll learn more on the second.

Oh and, don't forget to review~


	7. Kanyo - Involvement

Ajime Kyouko arrived at the entrance of the 177th Judgment Branch office and opened the door as she staggered in with an injury on her leg. There, she saw Konori Mii and Uiharu Kazari having a break with a cup of tea.

Both occupants looked at the doorway and saw Kyouko standing limply. She was clearly in a bad shape.

"Ajime-san!" Uiharu rushed towards Kyouko, grabbing her arm and put it over her shoulder, supporting the injured cryokinesist to her designated chair.

She helped Kyouko to be seated on a chair and the latter looked up at her. "Uiharu-san... Where's Misaka-san and Saten-san?"

"Saten-san told me she's going to go spirit hunting with Misaka-san."

Kyouko sighed. "Saten-san... Always getting herself in such situations."

"Ah!

Ajime-san! You should worry about yourself more!" Uiharu went to the counter, grabbing the first aid kit for Kyouko.

While remained in her position, Konori looked at Kyouko. "What happened during your duty?"

"I was attacked." Kyouko said as Uiharu put on gloves, washed the other's gaping wound on her leg thoroughly and applied betadine with a cotton wool. "I don't know what it was, but they were first delinquents and then they transformed into … something."

"Transformed? As in their body changed shape?"

Kyouko nodded. "They had the form of a humanoid lion and a shark."

"Is that some kind of an ability? Like Metamorphose, perhaps?"

"I haven't seen one with such ability. If they were metamorphose users, why do they need flames to change form or to make their attacks stronger?"

Uiharu had finished wrapping the white bandage around Kyouko's wound. "We can check the Bank for confirmation. And please remove your vest and blouse."

Kyouko complied, slowly removing her light brown Tokiwadai vest as the wound on her arm and shoulder were reacting even to the simplest movement. Soon, she dropped her vest onto the floor and unbuttoned her blouse with her other hand that was fine and placed it above the vest, prompting for Uiharu to treat the fresh wounds.

"Ajime-san, tell us the descriptions of those delinquents and we'll check the Bank. You should stay here and recover." Konori said. "Leave the rest to us."

"Right."

* * *

Mikoto, Shirai and Saten were walking towards the 177th Judgment Branch.

Mikoto told Saten everything about her ordeal and the reason for her uncharacteristic attitude for the past few days. Of course, anything that was related to the urban legend was an instant awe for Saten.

"Then," Saten began. "What do you think of the youkai?"

Shirai's heart beat again with a loud thump and her face was red as a tomato. It was a sudden question. She was curious and very nervous of what Mikoto thought of her. Cold sweat ran down her hands as she waited for Mikoto's reply.

"What do I think, huh." Mikoto mused. "Well, at first, she's persistent and annoying. But as time passes, she grew to be kinder... and even cute..."

Toward the end of her sentence, Mikoto's voice started to lower to a whisper and blushed.

Saten laughed. "I think that kyuubi, um, Shirai Kuroko was it, is also cute. I mean, look at the fox ears on top of her head."

She raised her hands to her head, mimicking the said ears. "It wiggles in a way that no one can resist. But, how is she taking this? About the false accusation."

"She said that she didn't want to go back yet until she finds a way to stop it."

"It's hard, isn't it? That heavy feeling of being betrayed by everyone that once trusted you..."

Soon, they arrived at the said Judgment branch, located on the second floor as stated by the sign in front of the five-story building. They went to the said floor and opened the door to the office.

"Those delinquents did not have an ability like that. Both were Level 0 espers who dropped out of school."

Hearing Konori's voice about a certain delinquent, Mikoto asked as soon as she, Shirai and Saten entered the room, "What about the delinquents?"

Konori, Kyouko and Uiharu stopped whatever they were doing and turned to look at their friends who just arrived.

"Misaka-san!"

Kyouko, ignoring her wounds that was recently wrapped in bandage by Uiharu due to some sort of adrenaline that rushed into her, immediately went to Mikoto and grabbed her shoulders violently. "Were you hurt somewhere!? Did you have any cuts!? What were you doing while I was on duty!?"

Every word that came out of Kyouko's lips was followed by a little too harsh shaking.

"Wait- Kyouko- stop- I'm- perfectly- fine-"

Kyouko froze after hearing Mikoto's condition, she had been frantic and uneasy after hearing that two of her close friends were targeted. After seeing them, and confirmed that they were fine, she calmed down. "I heard you were targeted by two delinquents."

"Two delinquents?" Saten asked as Mikoto was recovering from the dizziness.

Kyouko told the two what had happened during her duty, and how she had known the plans down to the battle and the injuries.

* * *

"Seriously, Kamakiri... You and your stupid high-on-drugs personality."

Inu was displeased by how Kamakiri failed on his final objective: capture the long haired girl. Considering how Kamakiri always lost his sanity whenever he got too excited, he had half-expected the result.

Kamakiri cleared his throat, and his calm demeanor returned.

"Anyway, we'll resort to Plan B." He declared in a serious tone. "We'll send a few soldiers to capture some little friends. Prepare the memory flames."

"Yeah, yeah." Inu stood up. "I'll get to it."

* * *

An eerie silence permeated the office. After Kyouko had finished her recount of the incident, Mikoto accidentally mentioned that they were not ordinary delinquents, but youkai who wanted to hunt for the targeted heiress.

Realizing what she said, Mikoto bit her lip. In order to protect them, she didn't tell them anything about the youkai or even Shirai.

Mikoto was forced to tell the truth only when Yoshiki appeared. However, it was now too late to take back everything.

"Misaka-san, what do you mean by youkai?" Uiharu said.

As soon as she realized that she accidentally slipped up, she turned away from everyone in the room, unsure if she should tell them the truth or not.

Shirai rested a hand on Mikoto's shoulder. "It's okay, Onee-sama. Tell them."

A sad smile formed Mikoto's lips. "Okay then..."

The others occupants of the room stared at Mikoto with a mixture of curiosity and worry as they wondered whom was she agreeing to.

Mikoto looked at her friends. "I... I will tell you guys something..."

_25 minutes later_

"So you're saying that you were 'falsely' accused of killing a thousand of the population, and now you're being hunted down?" Konori asked, trying to absorb and understand the information that Shirai had told them.

"And so, the leader sent these youkai soldiers so as to capture you?" Kyouko added.

Shirai requested to take over Mikoto's body to explain her crisis better. For others, it was weird to hear Mikoto speaking in a very refined and polite tone. It seemed like she was a different person all over that could qualify for an 'ojou-sama'.

She nodded in confirmation of their questions and made sure she was hearing it right.

"By the way, how do we defeat those youkai you were talking about?" Kyouko asked.

"For someone like you, it would be nigh impossible unless that youkai fights you in its natural form. Dealing with their weakness in a human body is not easy. If you have any experiences with exorcism, you can extract the youkai from the body, but not defeat it altogether."

Academy City is a city of science and so, Spiritualism isn't something that is known here. People had realized that they could call spirits. But they realized that not all had good hearts. Majority of the spirits had wicked heart that would harm anyone until an exorcist came and release the spirit from the body of the victim.

Soon, there were gifted people who could see them. Those people said and considered that they were spirits who did not want to pass on and wanted to fulfill a task. Thus, they had made an organization dealing with possessed people and lost spirits.

* * *

Inu knelt on the solid ground, exhausted as he gasped for air.

"Damn those soldiers you've sent, Kamakiri..."

Kamikiri was also in a similar situation as he knelt on the ground, gasping for air, "I didn't expect them to be that stubborn."

"Are you sure they'll take their job seriously?"

"They did not come here after learning about it for no reason, Inu."

"I suppose..."

"C'mon, let's do our part and make our lord happy that he'll grant our wishes - punish the one who betrayed us."

* * *

Academy City was covered in warm orange sky as dusk approached. Students were now walking back towards their own dormitories as the curfew draws near.

Saten and Uiharu were in front of the latter's door of her dorm room.

Uiharu turned around from the door and looked at Saten. "See you tomorrow, Saten-san."

"Yeah. See ya.

Oh yeah, I forgot something."

Uiharu tilted her head to her right, wondering what could be the matter.

Saten bent down and held the end of Uiharu's skirt, flipping it high up into the air.

"Today is... Gekota?"

An awkward silence followed as Saten analyzed the design of the panty that Uiharu wore. A few minutes later, a scream was let out.

"HYAAAAA!"

Uiharu's dorm room opened from the inside. It was Haruue Erii, who was wearing her usual pink dress, at the doorway.

"What happened?" She asked.

Both Saten and Uiharu looked at her.

Saten put a hand at the back of her head sheepishly. "Hahaha, nothing. Just the usual."

"Saten-san! It's not something that is or_ should_ be a usual occurrence!" Uiharu scolded in defense.

"Anyway, I have to go back to my dorm." Saten said, ignoring Uiharu's scold. "Have fun!" She waved the two goodbye and walked away into the corridor.

As soon as Saten left, Uiharu entered her dormitory room and dropped her school bag beside the double deck bed.

"Is Judgment work really hard?" Haruue asked curiously.

"Sometimes. It's really case dependent so it's uncertain how easy or hard work in Judgment is." Uiharu replied as she removed the ribbon on her blouse.

Before Haruue said anything, they heard a knock from the door.

Both girls looked at the door. "A visitor? At this time?" Haruue went to it and held the doorknob, twisting as it clicked and pulled the door towards the room.

Before her, was a male middle school student from their school. She did not recognize the student and thought it was someone from another class.

"Umm... What brings you here?"

The last thing she saw a grin that almost looked like it reached his ears.

* * *

At Tokiwadai Dormitory outside School Garden, Room 208.

Mikoto and Kyouko were in their nightwear, sitting on their respective bed across each other.

Kyouko still couldn't take all the events that happened today. Being a scientific city that did not acknowledge anything supernatural or just someone that cannot be explained by science, it was overwhelming: From the explanation of what a youkai was to even the talk with the fugitive youkai (who introduced herself as Shirai Kuroko as she remembered it) that was using Mikoto's body. The youkai even mentioned she had not learnt how to exit bodies properly yet and had slammed Mikoto's head on the desk.

Now, she looked at the only other occupant, her roommate. Mikoto was currently in a state of trance and was deep in thought.

Suddenly, it seemed as though someone had interrupted her train of thoughts when she started to speak angrily.

"W-Wait! Kuroko! Stop rubbing my stomach like that! ... I- said- stop!"

Mikoto released an electric shock and hit something or someone in thin air.

"Geez, when did you start being aggressive?"

A bitter smile formed Kyouko's lips. She couldn't hear what was Shirai doing or saying to her roommate. Mikoto was lucky she could hear and see Shirai. It was encountering spirits may be unbelievable for a person like her who disregard events that couldn't be proven by science, but she was jealous.

She remembered what Same told her during the battle.

_Remember this, kid, stop poking your nose where it doesn't belong. Knowing too much only spells trouble for you._

Was Same talking about Mikoto's current situation? Or was it to protect those who were partially involved?

Then she remembered something. It may had been quite some time, but she still felt the unusual aura from the elementary student she saw.

"Umm... Misaka-san?"

Her voice was soft and uncertain. Noticing this, Mikoto calmed down and looked at her.

"That time... when I first caught you with that elementary student... was he really possessed?"

"Kyouko... why are you asking that?"

"I know it's been some time already, but I just can't forget about it. When I saw him, I suddenly felt scared and shaky. Of course, being a Judgment member, I couldn't let it rule over my confidence. That boy... felt unusual."

Mikoto nodded. "Yeah. He was possessed. When it first happened, I was confused too. I did not know what to do, but I was glad that Kuroko was there and protected me from that attack."

"I see..."

Kyouko clenched her hands into fists. Even if she cannot see those youkai, she made a resolute vow to continue to aid Mikoto: directly or indirectly. As a Judgment officer, her duty was to protect students from the bad guys.

* * *

The next day, at Tokiwadai Middle School's swimming pool.

Wannai Kuniho swam to the front end of the pool and touched the edge of the ground.

Awatsuki Maaya approached her as she hoist her body up and sat. The long haired girl handed her a sports drink.

"Congratulations on your new record." Awatsuki said as she sat beside Wannai.

"Ah, thanks Awatsuki-san. It was nothing."

"Awatsuki-san! Wannai-san!"

Both girls looked behind them as they saw a member of swimming club approaching them.

"Nemoto-san, what brings you here?" Wannai said.

"Actually, I have a favor to ask..."

* * *

Saten arrived at 177th Judgment Branch office. Uiharu and Haruue were not in class today. She tried contacting them from Uiharu's phone to check if they were sick, but no response came and decided to check the dorm room herself. Worry came over her and so, she went to check the office after school was over.

This only got her more worried as she only saw Konori sitting on her desk, typing on her laptop. She closed the door behind her and approached her.

"Konori-senpai... have you seen Uiharu and Haruue-san?" She asked, her heart beating faster as she thought of the dreaded things that could or would have happened to them.

Konori stopped typing and looked at Saten. "No... why?"

"Today... they were not in school. They didn't even answer my call as well, so I thought they were here."

"Did those two go somewhere else off after Uiharu-san went back?"

"It was unlikely for them to go somewhere else once its curfew."

"How about you wait here until they come here?" Konori suggested.

"...I guess so."

Saten sat at a couch and sighed. Maybe Uiharu was just out shopping with Haruue. But she couldn't get off the hunch she had since morning. Something was off.

Both occupants looked at the door as they heard a click, creaking towards the room. They stared at the person at the doorway.

"Ah, Saten-san, what brings you here?"

It was Ajime Kyouko.

"Ajime-san, have you seen Uiharu and Haruue-san?" Saten asked.

Kyouko closed the door as soon as she entered. "Eh? Aren't you always with them in Sakugawa?"

"That's the problem. Neither of them were present in school today."

"Tried contacting them?"

"I did. I also checked their dormitory, but they were not there."

Kyouko sat at her designated work desk and opened her laptop. "I'll track Uiharu-san's GPS and -"

The door was abruptly forced open as the girls looked at it. Standing at the doorway was a male high school student. He wore a blank expression.

"Umm... What's wrong?" Saten asked, her voice frail.

* * *

"Hya!"

Both Awatsuki and Wannai yelped as they hit the ground 2 meters from above. Their hands and ankles were bounded by a thick rope on their backs. Their mouth was also gagged by a white cloth. Beside them were Uiharu and Haruue.

"Hahaha!" Inu's voice boomed the warehouse. "What's with that look, Kamakiri? Have you turned transsexual and possessed a girl?"

"Stop laughing, you dogshit."

Inu flinched at the insult. "What!? You wanna fight!?"

"I never said I want to fight! Where the hell are you getting those conclusions!?"

"Oh, so dogshit isn't an insult in your dictionary?!"

"As if calling me a trans just because I possessed a girl was not an insult! Besides, how would I infiltrate an all-girls school in a male body!?"

"Act like a pervert!"

Kamakiri had the urge to kill Inu now. Inu had been more stubborn than the other two youkai that they had entrusted their next plan to. Arguing with the stubborn headed dog brain would only raise his blood pressure and so, might as well just calm down and move on.

"Anyway, we'll wait for the two to capture the remaining victims we need."

* * *

"Really... when will you learn how to get out of my body on your own?"

Mikoto sighed as she walked in the streets with Shirai. Both were heading to Seventh Mist as Mikoto decided to do some shopping.

"Until I go back and teach myself how to. Not all youkai knows how to get out of the body themselves."

Soon, they reached their destination and entered the mall and headed for an accessory shop filled with various accessories from various franchises, including Gekota and Kirugumar.

Mikoto smiled brightly like a child as she went in the shop and went for the counter.

"Do you have a special Golden Gekota strap!?" She asked, her eyes shone with bright stars.

The person at the counter sweatdropped at Mikoto's act. Too childish for a middle school student, she thought.

"Yes, we have the limited edition golden Gekota strap." She replied with a bright smile.

"Yay~"

Meanwhile, Shirai, at the doorway of the accessory shop, was dumbfounded at how Mikoto's actions were so different from morning until now. Due to an uncontrollable feeling known to humans as love, she had the tendency to hug Mikoto randomly out of nowhere, although she would always receive an electric treatment afterward.

Every time she thought of love, she wanted to erase the thought away, but the more she tried, the stronger the thought became.

But now, Mikoto was acting like a seven year old child who looked like she was in some toy heaven. In this case – Gekota.

'I-I never thought of Onee-sama could act like a sugar high seven year old... To think that most people her age would be like a teenager with a lot of curiosities in their life... Such childish taste!'

After receiving a small box that contained the limited edition special golden Gekota strap, Mikoto took out a ten thousand yen bill and gave it to the counter.

Putting the box in her bag, Mikoto walked up to Shirai. "Let's go, Kuroko."

"Eh? Where to?"

"We're going back to the dormitory. I still have homework to do."

Mikoto walked away from the shop they were in and Shirai followed suit.

* * *

"Alright. Which one of you is a computer geek?"

Kamakiri's possessed female body's voice boomed. Inu and the other two youkai possessed humans, Kaeru and Gokiburi, bit their lips as they tried their best to not laugh at how Kamakiri looked ridiculous at possessing a human girl. Inu even suggested to be careful as the girl could be a trap.

Kamakiri heard about it and grabbed Inu's collar. "Hey dogshit, if you can use your mouth for such nonsense, then maybe you can start helping me."

"F-Forgive me... Haha... I couldn't resist suggesting... Haha... about it..." Unable contain his laughter, Inu burst into laughter, as the other two youkai did the same.

Fed up with the stupidity that Kamakiri's companions only seemed to have, he summoned his long, sharp green sickles on his wrist and placed both on each youkai's throat.

"If all three of you can only act as stupid bastards, then I could kill all of you right here, right now."

Inu, Kaeru and Gokiburi stopped laughing and their bodies shook in fear with only Kamakiri's use of a sharp, deadly tone. They gulped in unison as they stared at the sickles that Kamakiri raised to their throats.

"A-Alright... we'll get serious..." Inu croaked with his broken voice.

Kamakiri removed the sickles and dismissed it in green flame. He looked back at the captured girls before him.

All seven of them were lined up, restrained from moving as their wrists and legs were bounded by a thick rope and their mouths were gagged by a white cloth tied on their lips. Kyouko, on the other hand, received scrapes as a sign she had tried to escape from the eventual capture with Saten and Konori.

"Umm... Kamakiri, what were you asking again?" Inu asked, his cluelessness obvious.

"I asked if any of these girls is a computer geek."

"Hmm... If I remember correctly, I think that it is the flowerbed girl." Inu said as he looked at Uiharu. "Yup, it's definitely her."

"Kaeru, remove that cloth on her." Kamakiri commanded, looking at the poker-faced possessed human beside Inu.

Kaeru nodded and slowly untied the cloth from Uiharu.

She glared at Kamakiri. "What are you planning to do with us?"

"My, my. Such as rude girl. I removed that cloth because I want answers, not questions."

"Even if you want them, I won't give it to you."

"Looks like I have to say it directly." Kamakiri sighed, knowing that arguing with the flowerbed girl wouldn't get things anywhere. "I demand answers. If I get one, I'll get your dear friend and she _may_ be able to save you. If not..."

Uiharu flinched at Kamakiri's statement. She knew what he meant - it was obvious.

"Or should I say, your dear close friend, Misaka Mikoto?"

Everyone was surprised at Kamakiri's knowledge of their friend's name except for Saten, who was clearly angry at Kamakiri. Awatsuki and Wannai were very confused at the turn of events. They did not know what kind of situation they were in; they had been forcefully caught up in it.

"How did you know -"

Uiharu was cut off when Kamakiri raised his finger. "Tsk tsk tsk. I made up an incident because I'm tracking somebody. I planned to meet her because of some issue that she got herself into. So, if you would answer my question obediently, I would gladly ask her to come here and have all of you saved. Simple as that."

"Why should I trust you?"

"Do you have a choice?"

Uiharu decided that answering his question would be best. "Alright, let me hear this question."

"Where is this place?"

...Silence.

It was a very long silence that brought the atmosphere down. It was as if time had stopped for everyone. No one dared to make even the slightest sound and they could only remain still and quiet as the magnitude of the question was out of the calculations that not even a seismometer could read it.

"D-District 10. According to the database, this is the only abandoned warehouse in this district..." Uiharu said.

"I see. Contact your friend and tell her to come here."

Kaeru took this as a sign to remove the rope that bounded Uiharu's wrist. She obediently grabbed her phone from her pocket and started to type a message for Mikoto.

No one ever tried to comprehend Kamakiri's question. It was a serious question, according to his tone. But the girls felt like slapping their palm into their faces.

* * *

Mikoto was doing her homework leisurely as Shirai was sleeping on her bed. Tokiwadai always gave difficult homework for their students since they were an elite school, unlike neighborhood schools such as Sakugawa.

A ringing melody interrupted her work as she looked at her Gekota phone placed on the table.

She grabbed the phone and flipped it open.

"From Uiharu-san?"

She opened the message and read:

Misaka-san, please come to the abandoned warehouse at District 10.

* * *

**A/N:** Cliché thing, I know. Hostages and all.

I really had so much fun writing Kamakiri and Inu. What can be more amusing than having two characters with complete opposite personalities? If you're interested, drop me a PM so there will be special chapters with these two and their antics and special guests from the cast. Hilarity ensues.

I was serious when that golden Gekota strap was worth 10,000 yen. After all, it's limited edition and golden. Unless it was a limited edition pink Dora the Explorer watch. Toodles~

Is there a translated version of the notes that Kuroko wrote at the beginning and end of volume 3 of Railgun manga? It states how she fell in love with Mikoto that was not mentioned anywhere in anime or light novel. If none, I need a Japanese translator and ask for translation. Drop me a PM and I'll give you a link.

Credits to CrossFaded and werewolf2005 for beta reading the chapter. (I really should stop procrastinating.)


	8. Hogo no Kusari - Chain of Protection

Mikoto read the message one more time in case she didn't get it wrong.

Misaka-san, please come to the abandoned warehouse in District 10.

'Why did Uiharu-san ask me to go to District 10?' She thought. Her heart raced at the unusual message received. If it was indeed Uiharu, then something was wrong.

Why?

She sent the message rather hesitantly, feeling anxiety as time goes by. Seconds later, she received a reply.

A youkai named 'Yoshiki' is looking for you.

'Yoshiki... the youkai that attacked me and Kuroko yesterday... why would he want to ask us to go there? Wait... why would Uiharu-san know about him? Unless...'

Suddenly, she remembered Yoshiki's final words before he left.

"_I thought I could capture the heiress with just those mute twins, but I guess I'll use a drastic method!"_

Mikoto tightened her grip on her phone. Uiharu must have been abducted by Yoshiki. There was no other way she could know him. If that was the case, what about the others?

Her heart felt like releasing itself from the confines of her chest: beating like a fist pounding at the wall, as if trying to break from its prison. Now the youkai went to far; how dare he involve her friends for something they were not directly involved in.

Closing the phone, she put it in her pocket and stood up, tidied her desk and walked next to a sleeping Shirai.

Noticing a presence, Shirai slowly opened her eyes. She looked up to see Mikoto, with a determined expression, looking at her.

"What's wrong, Onee-sama?"

"Let's go."

"Where?"

* * *

Both Mikoto and Shirai arrived in front of the warehouse.

The exterior of the warehouse had been worn down due to time and the dust that accumulated around it. Around the warehouse was a 12 meter fence that served to mark the plot. At the entrance, was a 'NO ENTRY' barricade blocking it.

Mikoto looked around for onlookers. With nobody in sight except for her and Shirai, they jumped the barricade and charged into the warehouse.

As they looked around, they saw seven female students hung high above the ground: formed into into two columns like they were in some sort of a creepy ritual, supported by the thick rope around their chest and upper arm, and hung on the roof. In the middle of it was a timer and a knife, with the sharp edge facing the rope.

Mikoto gasped as she recognized that they were all her friends. On left line were Wannai, Awatsuki, Saten and Haruue. On the right side of the line were Kyouko, Uiharu and Konori. They only looked at

her, their eyes pleading for help as they were powerless in the situation they were in.

'Even Wannai-san and Awatsuki-san...'

"Welcome!"

Mikoto looked at the source of the voice, which was 10 meters away from her current position. Standing on a mountain of metal was a female student of Tokiwadai and three other male students.

"How do you like the scene before you? Isn't it great? Oh and if you're wondering, just call me Kamakiri."

"What do you want?"

"You know what I want. If you want to save your friends, surrender the heiress to me and I'll let them free. If not..."

Kamakiri snapped his fingers and the area around them enveloped in mist. The hostages looked around in fear and curiosity. As they looked down at Mikoto, they noticed that she was beside someone they didn't know. Even though they found her appearance cute, they wondered what was she doing in a place like this.

Except for Saten, she wanted to say that it was the youkai that Mikoto was always with.

"As long as they are in this space, the spikes directly below them will result in their death if the rope breaks. If you still won't give up, let's have a battle with the four of us, versus the two of you. Every two minutes, a rope will break and one of those pitiful girls will fall down on the bed of spikes."

Having a battle with four youkai plus saving one hostage is a very difficult task. Of course, Mikoto would not surrender Shirai easily. She would choose her friends over the youkai. But thinking

back to the bond she had with Shirai was different. It may have been only for two weeks, but they shared a bond special only to them. It was kind of unfair, she thought. She had been with her friends

longer than the youkai, yet being with Shirai made her feel like herself (though leaning more on the childish side).

"Stop this madness, Kamakiri."

Everyone looked at Shirai, who only stepped forward as she looked at Kamakiri.

"This isn't madness, I am merely using her friends so I can force you to give up and come back with us."

"You don't have to involve them."

"Why? Isn't this appropriate? You know those movies that human makes? The bad guys takes two people as hostage and the good guy forces to decide who to save. It's the same in this

situation. If you chose to battle, it's not my fault if you two failed to save all of them."

"I..."

Shirai and Kamakiri stopped their exchanged and looked at Mikoto. Her friends also looked at her.

"I'll... fight..."

Shirai gasped as she realized what Mikoto had said. She grabbed the other's shoulders and Mikoto looked at her.

"Onee-sama! What were you saying? You don't have to do it... for me..."

Mikoto pushed Shirai's hands away. "That's not it... I can't overlook people or youkai or whoever they are use my friends for stupid things like this. Besides, I also can't overlook those who did this

to you."

"Onee-sama..."

"Hey! Is your drama skit done now? We're getting impatient here."

Both Mikoto and Shirai looked at Kamakiri, who only jumped from the junkpile and landed on the ground. "So, what's your choice, human? Surrender the heiress to us, or you'll fight protecting her

while you sacrifice your friends?"

"Kamakiri... if you think of underestimating me like that, you got another thing coming. I'll fight, but I am not protecting Kuroko or sacrificing my friends." She said as her voice started to get louder.

"But Kuroko will fight with me while we save everyone!"

Kamakiri's temper started to rise as Mikoto was still stubbornly not giving up Shirai despite she had nothing to do with her.

"People like you... annoy me!"

He snapped his fingers, activating the timer and left the Tokiwadai student's body. He leapt forward towards Mikoto and Shirai in his natural form and manipulated his light green flame, forming a sickle. The flame slowly took its solid form and finally turned into a golden sickle, matching the color of his armor; he then swung his weapon at them.

Mikoto and Shirai leapt sideways to avoid his attack and ended up separating themselves.

Kaeru stepped in and ignited himself. Mikoto quickly looked at him, and wondered about his alternate form. The dark green flame dissipated as his alternate form was finally revealed.

_Moo~_

'Gekota!'

Mikoto's face transformed into a cat-like expression she always uses whenever she saw anything related to Gekota. But in a split second her expression changed back to a serious one: realizing at the fact it was a just youkai taking the form of her favorite childish merchandise.

'I won't be fooled by that so easily.'

Kaeru leapt towards her in a frog-like manner. Because he was able to leap higher in his second form, the youkai prepared his attack, raising his hand high. During his descent, his hand started to descend, gathering force for his attack.

Before he could reach Mikoto, she conjured an electric ball and hurled it at him. Kaeru karate chopped the electric ball in half, like a blade slashing through a leaf.

Mikoto stepped backwards as Kaeru landed before her.

They heard an alarm and the sound of a soft object being slashed. Mikoto and Shirai turned to see Wannai falling down towards the spikes. Wasting no time, Mikoto dashed towards her and jumped. She caught Wannai just in time and tumbled past the spikes.

Mikoto laid Wannai on the floor and quickly removed the ropes and the cloth as Shirai was dodging all four youkai's attacks.

Wannai gasped as she looked at the other. "Misaka-san, what exactly is happening?"

"Umm... I'll explain later."

"Uh, Misaka-san, can I help too? If it's okay with you."

"I... guess..."

Mikoto stood up and went back in the raging battle as she used her magnetism, hurling an air conditioner at Kaeru, who was approaching Shirai. The frog youkai was hit square in the chest and was knocked to the side from the impact.

She felt someone behind her and whirled around. Mikoto saw a dark brown humanoid insect with two antennas on its head. Looming over her, Mikoto quickly recognized what kind of insect he

was and ran away frantically in a comical fashion.

"Don't come near meee!"

With Kaeru out of the way, Inu jumped in and tried to deliver a punch at Shirai, which she only side stepped and positioned her foot for hi-kick and swung it on his stomach, hurling him away and

hit the wall.

After using her magnetism on an old crane arm at Gokiburi in fear, Mikoto immediately put her hand on the ground and vibrated the iron sand and quickly blocked Kamakiri's surprise attack with her incomplete iron sand sword. Two weapons clashed as Kamakiri used his other sickle to attack Mikoto, but she retaliated back by using her free hand and created another iron sand sword.

Kamakiri pulled back as the alarm of the timer rang again. Mikoto realized that it was too late as she was behind of the mountain of discarded metallic objects after running away from Gokiburi.

It was Uiharu and Wannai didn't have time to reach her because she was too far away. Thankfully, Shirai was nearer than Wannai and caught Uiharu just in time.

Shirai removed the ropes from her quickly before Uiharu could say anything.

Gokiburi jumped in and thrust his right foot forward as he descended upon Shirai. She only raised her arm to block the attack and pushed him away, landing on the ground in his battle stance.

He clenched his fist and charged at Shirai, who only crouched, avoiding the incoming attack. Caught off-guard, Shirai raised her foot and kicked him in the face.

Losing his footing, he fell sideways and landed on his chest. Shirai saw a striking gold at the middle of his pronotum. Recognizing it as their weak point, she immediately ignited her hand and slashed his weak point cleanly, finally dissolving in light particles.

After Gokiburi completely dissolved, Shirai turned to check Mikoto's situation. Currently, she was double-teamed by Kamakiri and Inu. Though she could handle the two of them with ease due to her

advantage with her abilities in the warehouse, she had difficulties handling Kamakiri's speed and Inu's combat prowess.

Suddenly, she felt a hard kick hit her back and turned to see Kaeru. She was flung ten meters away and landed on her stomach and gritted her teeth in pain. Kaeru started to approach her, but stopped

when he saw an incoming lightning bolt and dodged to his side.

He looked at the attacker and saw Mikoto panting for air as her left hand was aiming towards him and her right hand held an iron sand sword that clashed with Kamakiri's sickle.

Shirai stood up slowly as the pain on her back subsided. She looked at Kaeru who stopped. Approaching the Gekota look-alike youkai, Kaeru raised his hands in a karate stance. Shirai thrust her palm at his face.

Kaeru countered it with a karate chop before the attack could even reach him.

"..."

Frowning at her failed attack, Shirai used her other hand and attacked again.

However it met another counter.

'Just how fast can he react?'

Frustrated, Shirai thrust a hand again and when her attack was blocked, she quickly switched to her other hand, but Kaeru was able to block it once again. Without any other options left, she used her foot and kicked him at the face and fell sideways.

Another alarm sounded as Awatsuki fell down. With Shirai and Mikoto far from the reach, Wannai quickly reacted and managed to grab Awatsuki just in time with both of her hands in bridal style.

With the sudden rush of adrenaline, Wannai didn't have any qualms carrying her close friend and carried away from the spikes and put her down on the floor, removing the ropes and the cloth that kept

her captive.

Awatsuki inhaled deeply as she tried to calm down the fear that crept within her ever since they arrived in the warehouse and heard details they did not know or were unaware of it.

"Awatsuki-san, are you alright?" Wannai asked worriedly.

"Yeah." Awatsuki nodded.

"Thank goodness."

Mikoto, Shirai and Uiharu sighed in relief as Awatsuki was saved thanks to Wannai as none of them were near and would not be able to reach before the victim could reach the spikes.

In Mikoto's current situation, she had finally defeated Inu when she accidentally hit his buttocks with the sharp corner of the metal box manipulated by electricity that was meant for Kamakiri. Poor

youkai, she thought, for having such an unfortunate place for weak point. Other than his unfortunate fate, he seemed to tag well with Kamakiri as their prowess in combat and speed together gave

her the trouble during the whole battle.

Now all she needed to do was defeat Kamakiri to save her friends and in turn Shirai. They had gone too far and even involved innocent bystanders.

"You look fired up." Kamakiri said.

"Using my friends for your plans isn't something I can just ignore." Mikoto said as she let out a lightning spear from her forehead towards Kamakiri.

The youkai merely raised his sickles in X formation and blocked the said attack. "Why do you even care? Why would you go as far as to save the heiress, who killed a thousand of us?!"

"Kuroko is not the perpetrator."

Kamakiri chuckled, and slowly turned to madly laugh. "You honestly think I believe those words, coming from a murderer!? Don't make me laugh!"

He leapt towards Mikoto with his arms spread wide, preparing his attack. He swung his sickle at her, who created an iron sand sword and blocked his attack. Both weapons clashed as they pushed themselves to their utmost limit for superiority. In the end, Mikoto overpowered Kamakiri and pushed him away. Finally seeing his weak point, which was located under his right wrist.

Mikoto aimed and slashed her sword down when the weak point was still in sight, but Kamakiri quickly regained his composure and used his left sickle to block her attack.

Meanwhile, in Shirai's situation, she had found Kaeru's weak point, which was at the back of his head. She had difficulties trying to keep up with him, as he kept annoying her by making jumping about like a real frog, avoiding all her attacks easily.

As Shirai was chasing Kaeru, she noticed that the youkai was starting to get slow and his jumps was starting to get low. Despite his excellent martial art skills, his stamina must be lower than the

other three youkai who were with him.

Kaeru finally stopped his annoyance and stood in front of Shirai, panting for air.

However, another alarm rang. This time, it was Kyouko.

The gravity pulled Kyouko down as she closed her eyes in fear of hitting the spikes below her.

Her fall was stopped when Uiharu caught her. Her legs shook as she carried her since she was not an athletic sort of a person and usually had difficulty with physical training.

"A-Ajime-san... You're heavy..."

With her remaining strength left, Uiharu took a few steps backward and finally fell on the floor, with Kyouko on top of her.

After witnessing the event, Shirai and Kaeru looked back at each other and got back into their battle stances.

But it was interrupted when Kaeru felt something heavy behind him and fell face first on the ground.

On top of him was Kamakiri, who had his left sickle broken in half. He stood up, regenerating his broken weapon and saw Mikoto approaching him, and stopped three feet away when she saw

the obvious golden circular object at the back of Kaeru's head when he stood straight.

Shirai had the same reaction when she saw Kamakiri's exposed weak point on his wrist. She eyed Mikoto, who only looked back at her and nodded, hoping that both youkai didn't read through

their plan.

Meanwhile, Kamakiri and Kaeru looked at the two girls and prepared themselves in case they attack.

"Hey, Kaeru. If I say go, we'll attack." Kamakiri instructed.

Kaeru nodded, focusing his attention as he wait for Kamakiri's order.

Mikoto dispersed the iron sand sword and eyed Kaeru's weak point. Both she and Shirai prepared their battle stances. A few seconds later, they dashed to their enemies.

Kamakiri stiffened his body as he saw Mikoto approaching him at an amazing speed.

"Go."

Both youkai leapt towards their respective opponents. Both Kaeru and Kamakiri gasped as Shirai and Mikoto only went past them, destroying their plan.

Sparks surrounded Mikoto's hands, and unleashed an electric attack at Kaeru's weak point. The attack hit directly, cracking the circular object at the back of his head.

Shirai grabbed Kamakiri's right wrist and ignited her hand. Kamakiri froze as he realized that his weak point was in danger as Shirai used her nails on her index and middle finger and penetrated

through his weak point, creating two cracks on his weak point.

Both youkais' bodies dissolved into particles of light. As half of their bodies dissolved, The anger they had disappeared and looked at Shirai.

"You..."

Kamakiri spoke softly. It was different from his usual tone of authority.

"The one who created us was..."

Before he could finish his sentence, he and Kaeru dissolved completely.

* * *

It was almost dusk when the girls exited the warehouse. Mikoto and Kyouko were worried since it was time for curfew. Awatsuki and Wannai could worry less due to the fact that their dorm mistress had a

nicer side if the rule was broken once, and this was their first time breaking the dorm rules.

As the girls were walking back to District 7, Wannai spoke up as she clasped her hands on her chin level.

"That was scary..."

Awatsuki nodded in agreement. "I've never been that scared in my life."

"But, the youkai with Misaka-san is strong." Uiharu said.

"Too bad I didn't get to cuddle her again!" Saten huffed in annoyance.

"Why would do that, Saten-san?" Kyouko asked, looking at Saten.

"It's been my dream to see a kyuubi!"

"Now that you mention the youkai," Konori spoke up, "when I saw her the first time, my heart suddenly melted because of the cuteness."

"What about my cuteness?"

The girls stopped walking as they looked at Mikoto who was in front of them staring. The moment she suddenly spoke, her tone and the way she spoke changed. It was very polite and refined, as if she

was raised in a rich family.

Konori, Kyouko, Saten and Uiharu recognized that it was Shirai who took over Mikoto's body.

They froze up as they thought she heard what they were talking about.

"Really, why are humans this soft whenever they see any cute objects?" Shirai sighed.

["Ku-ro-ko."]

Shirai suddenly jerked up as she heard Mikoto's deadly tone resonate in her head.

["Didn't I tell you will only get in my body when I let you!?"]

"A-Ah, Onee-sama, please don't shout... My head hurts..." Shirai said as she clasped her hands on her head.

For the others, it looked like Mikoto was talking to someone else and would have thought she had a personality disorder.

["If only I can shock you from within, I would've done it from the start. Geez, when did you start to be so clingy."]

* * *

_"Kamakiri and his lackeys failed again."_

_The lord muttered as he grabbed the Horse chess piece and held it tightly. He stood up from his throne and went out to the balcony of his palace. His eyes focused on the houses before him._

_It wasn't a magnificent sight, but seeing it somehow made him calm. He missed those days..._

_"Gen'ou-sama."_

_Behind him was a youkai of golden samurai armor and donned a cyan flame, kneeling._

_Gen'ou turned around, looking at the other. "Thank you for the notice. I'll be there shortly."_

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the long wait guys! _ I had to think thoroughly about the action and dealt a minor... emotional problem. But it was only for hours and finally get my act up and finished the chapter.

There was a reason why it took me a week to finish this other than procrastinating. Initially, the hostages were supposed to be freed and the battle will go on without worrying anyone else. But I realized there was no tension so I changed the situation, ending with this. I also realized that the chapter title won't mean anything if I used the initial situation.

Also, I finally got my copy of "sister's noise"! I received the item last 5/09 at 12:26 PM. I thought I had to go through all the pain going to the customs office, but in the end it was door to door. I was really happy that I even didn't write my signature properly. It took me some time get over the ecstasy and continued writing the chapter. I've seen the PV and the end was the usual surprise guest. Good job, fripSide. That made me think of a fanfic!

Credits to CrossFaded and werewolf2005 for beta reading the chapter.

Additional credits to EtherealFox and CrossFaded for being generous to translate Kuroko's diary notes! Thank you!


	9. Youkaise - Spirit World

The students who were possessed yesterday were not aware of it and wondered about the strange gap in their memories. It was a relief for Mikoto and Shirai that the victims couldn't easily the describe the situation they were in since it was best if it was to kept secret.

It was another day in Tokiwadai Middle School, and it was an odd day for Mikoto. She was wondering why Shirai had been so quiet since morning and greeted her with a flat tone.

Whenever she wanted to talk to the youkai, it took her a few shouts before she got her attention. Shirai, after the fight with Kamakiri and his grunts yesterday, was terribly disturbed.

It was lunch time in Tokiwadai as Mikoto, Shirai and Kyouko were situated to their usual table.

"Today is boring..." Kyouko complained, sipping on her juice. "All we did was take quizzes on nearly every subject. Are they trying to kill us?"

Mikoto placed her arm on the table and rested her head on it. "Well, there's nothing we can do about it."

"Really... Tokiwadai can be severe about the curriculum. I can't blame them, though. Being a prestigious school and all."

"You're right."

"But... I can't forget what happened yesterday; the feeling of being powerless when I was bounded in those ropes was terrifying."

Mikoto frowned as the memory from yesterday was still fresh in her mind. "Kyouko... sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"Everyone was involved in something foolish, even at the cost of your lives."

Kyouko looked at Mikoto with sad smile on her lips. "Misaka-san... here you go again, taking all blame for yourself."

"...?"

"We got involved because of Judgment work. We couldn't just let the case run loose, and we needed to find a way to stop the increase of victims. So please, don't be saddened that we got involved."

"But Judgment was not the only one involved, even innocent bystanders like Haruue-san, Wannai-san and Awatsuki-san got caught up in this mess as well."

Kyouko's was instantly silenced. While she had prepared for what Mikoto was going to say, she did not expect her to mention the other three hostages who were caught completely unaware.

While trying to collect her thoughts so she could convince Mikoto to stop blaming herself for these events, Kyouko said, "Well, they were unharmed after all that craziness, right?"

Kyouko paused after she spoke.

She noticed something that shouldn't be possible.

How did the youkai know about their friends who were not initially involved? Mikoto and Shirai did not even know Uiharu was tailing their movements. Wannai Kinuho and Awatsuki Maaya were usually busy with their swimming club activities, so it would be implausible for them to encounter a youkai; it was the same case for Haruue. Given how she and Uiharu were captured together, Kyouko assumed that they were in their dormitory when it happened.

"Ah, it's Misaka-san and Ajime-san!"

Both girls looked at the source of the voice and saw Wannai and Awatsuki approaching them.

"Good afternoon, Wannai-san, Awatsuki-san." Kyouko greeted.

"Good afternoon." Wannai greeted back.

"Kongou-san isn't with you?"

"Yes." Awatsuki replied sadly. "She said she had some errands to attend."

"I see... Too bad."

Under the table, Shirai hugged her knees with her arms. Hearing Wannai and Awatsukis' voices triggered the events from yesterday in her mind. This shouldn't have happened; those who didn't know anything about them were not supposed to be involved.

* * *

Ajime Kyouko arrived at the Judgment office after school. She opened the door to the office and saw Haruue Erii walked out of the kitchen, handling a tray containing a kettle and four empty mugs.

"Haruue-san, what brings you here today?"

The Sakugawa middle student turned her head towards the person at the doorway.

She smiled at Kyouko who closed the door. "Banri-chan had a group project, and it feels kind of lonely to remain in the dorm so I came here with Uiharu-san."

"I see. Then take your time on your stay."

Kyouko walked over to her work desk and placed her school bag on the floor, leaning on the footing of the desk.

Haruue placed the tray on the table in the middle of the office. She grabbed the kettle from the handle and started pouring tea into each mugs.

"Would you like some tea?"

"Ah, thank you."

Placing the kettle on the table, Haruue wrapped her fingers around the handle and walked towards Kyouko's desk and placed the mug beside the laptop.

Haruue did the same to Uiharu and Konori. With the final mug left, she held it by the handle, placed it on the table beside the kettle, and sat on the couch located at the backside of the office.

"Uiharu-san, what exactly happened yesterday?"

Uiharu left her eyes on the monitor screen and looked at Haruue. "I'm afraid I cannot answer that. Misaka-san knows more about the situation than we do."

"Did something happen to Misaka-san?"

"We don't know..."

"It was really scary." Haruue said, sipping on the tea. "I thought I was going to die."

A click vibrated in the room and they looked at the door to see it creaking. Saten Ruiko entered the room with a carefree smile.

"Good afternoon~"

"Good afternoon, Saten-san." Kyouko greeted.

"There's something I read on the sites about urban legends!"

Kyouko, Uiharu and Konori sighed. Haruue stared at Saten in wonder, clueless of her weird hobby of reading the urban legends site despite being chastised by Kyouko and Uiharu a lot of times.

"Saten-san will always be Saten-san." Uiharu said.

"But! I've found a way to know who is a youkai! They said it works!" Saten pulled out her phone from her bag and showed the screen at them.

With Kyouko the nearest one to her, she read what was written on the screen. "Fuwa Fuwa Time?"

"Eh!?" Saten winced in surprise and looked at her phone, which the music application was still open. She quickly closed it and searched for the browser. She found the web page of urban legends and flashed it in front of Kyouko's face a millimeter away.

Kyouko leaned on her chair as she tried to get a good view of the screen. Once she finally had a clear view of the page, she read the headline aloud.

"A device that detects spiritual presence?"

* * *

Mikoto and Shirai were walking on the streets.

The human and the youkai did not have a normal conversation the whole day. If they had any conversation, it was more like an interrogation: ask and reply. Mikoto was getting more worried as Shirai was keeping her own thoughts to herself. There seemed to be a barrier between them.

But Mikoto would not give up trying to get through.

"Kuroko... are you alright?"

No reply.

It had been like this since morning. Mikoto tried to bring up a conversation; but ended soon as Shirai was either not listening or too focused on her own thoughts.

They arrived at the usual family restaurant that she, Kyouko, Uiharu and Saten hangout at. It had been a while since they last went to this place. Since Kyouko and Uiharu were busy with the Judgment and the case they had been investigating (youkai possessing unfortunate people), they had less time to be together and hang out.

They entered the restaurant and went in front of the counter. Mikoto ordered a pair of sliced strawberry shortcakes and a pair of juice boxes? for take out.

After paying at the counter, they both went out of the restaurant and walked towards the direction of the park.

Upon arriving, Mikoto secured the sole unoccupied bench and sat. Shirai did the same a few seconds later.

Mikoto rummaged through the paper bag that contained the order from the restaurant. Pulling out the shortcake, she handed one to Shirai.

"Here."

Shirai looked at it without changing her expression. She received the shortcake obediently, and used both of her hands to hold it.

"Onee-sama..."

"?"

Before Mikoto could pierce the cake with her fork, she stopped and looked at Shirai, surprised that she was the one who started a conversation.

"Am I... a bother?"

Those words, that came from Shirai's lips, contained bitterness.

Mikoto was confused at the question she was asked. It was too sudden for her to answer the question as she had only been with the youkai for a few weeks.

Having lost her appetite to eat the confectionery in her hand and instead stared at it, she asked, "Why... are you asking that?"

Shirai hesitated to answer the question. She put up a painful expression as she held the plastic container of the confectionery tightly. With no way to take back the question, she replied,

"It's just... I've been bothering others. The longer I'm in this world, the more people have been involved, even those who were not actually a friend of yours. And yesterday... your friends almost lost their lives.

"Should I... just go back and accept my punishment, even if I don't deserve it?"

It wasn't easy for Shirai to voice the words that she had been thinking since morning. Especially if she had to break such an important, strong bond she established with Misaka Mikoto. Their bond couldn't be compared to anything she had back in her world. The longer she was with Mikoto, the more happy she was.

Just the thought of separating from her companion was worse than being stabbed in the heart by a sharp object.

"Do you remember what I said yesterday?"

Shirai looked at Mikoto in confusion, trying to remember what the human had said to her.

"I told you that I won't overlook those who framed you. I don't know why they are against you, but they must be stopped."

Those words were resolute. Shirai and Mikoto were not related in any form. They've lived in different worlds with different lifestyles, cultures and different kind of living beings they encounter.

The heaviness within Shirai's mind disappeared. She was filled with gratitude.

Shirai smiled. She knew someone out there would save her.

"Thank you, Onee-sama..."

Mikoto blushed as her hands grew cold. She wasn't used to receiving a thank you from anyone. She had received such before, yet every time it was delivered to her, she quickly gets embarassed.

"Y-Yeah... L-Look! Let's eat the shortcake before the icing softens!"

Mikoto said frantically as she grabbed a plastic fork and pierced the tip of the cake.

* * *

"Saten-san, you really should give up."

Uiharu said wearily as she followed Saten in the streets of District 7.

Back in the Judgment office, Saten told everyone in the room that the said detector device was proven to work. Of course, the others did not like where the discussion was going especially with a topic like urban legends.

Saten Ruiko would not give up and was in hot pursuit for her quest for the device, and so she coerced Uiharu into joining her.

"If you go any deeper, you can get in trouble."

Once again, those words fell on deaf ears as Saten entered a nearby alleyway; Uiharu followed suit as she kept a close eye on the long haired girl.

The alleyway was not wide or narrow. It could fit an average healthy person perfectly. An obese person would have a difficulty due to their size, and the dirty walls coated with dust would stick on their clothes and body.

After taking a few steps, Saten felt her foot kick an object as they heard something rough from the ground.

Saten looked down and saw a thick black rectangular device lying on the ground a few meters away from the ground. She picked the device up and examined it.

It looked like something that would not exist normally in Academy City. There was a dark green crosshair on the green screen with a line moving clockwise. There were two small red buttons below it. She could see an antenna sticking out from the top side of the device.

"What... is this?"

Saten spoke in wonder and confusion.

"Saten-san! Don't just pick up things you don't know how to use!" Uiharu yelled, scolding the other.

"Uiharu, this device's description completely matches from the one I read!"

Saten flashed the device in front of Uiharu with enthusiasm. "With this, I finally know which parts of Academy City youkai dwells in!"

"We can try that tomorrow." Uiharu said and looked up, noticing the red-orange hue of the sky. "Curfew is near."

"Alright. Let's see if it works with Shirai-san."

"Shirai...-san? You mean, that youkai that explained everything to us?"

"Yeah." Saten nodded, placing the device in her pocket. "Come on Uiharu, let's go back to the dormitory."

Uiharu turned around and walked towards the exit. Saten put her hands on Uiharu's shoulders as they walked away from the alley.

* * *

Gen'ou left his palace and saw several of his creations working on a ten feet tall catapult.

Two catapults were made, based from the Heian period. Its foundation was mostly made of wood as support was made of metal that will keep the foundation strong.

The golden armored samurais had finished tying the lever in horizontal position.

Gen'ou grinned madly. His plan was finally set into motion. All he needed was the higher ups' permission to cross the human world with a huge amount of youkai and a large weapon.

Gen'ou had a lean human muscular build that would make anyone think his age was around his mid-twenties: his auburn hair pointed forwards from the middle, wore a black hakama that matched his black nine-tails, and his nails were filed to become claws.

* * *

Shirai was not able to sleep in the peaceful atmosphere of Tokiwadai Dormitory's Room 208.

It was not because of where she was sleeping, her posture nor something awkward in her current position.

It was because she felt the burden within her weighed heavily on her mind for a second time.

Despite her talking about it with Mikoto, she had second thoughts about it. Negative thought resurfaced and despite all her efforts, she couldn't dismiss them.

Right now, her companion was sleeping peacefully while hugging the stuff toy Kirugumar.

Was staying in this world any longer worth it? Was receiving injustice better just to stop the youkai from involving more humans?

'What should I do...?'

Back in her days, her parents had told her that whatever one feels, they must follow what their hearts told them to do; even if it was wrong. If everyone was following what was right or wrong, their hearts would not remain in peace, and in turn, whatever burden they had, it will continue to haunt them.

But those words were useless in her current situation.

Her heart told her to ask for Mikoto's help and solve it once and for all. Her mind told her to go back and accept her punishment.

Shirai looked at a piece of paper at the upper left corner of Mikoto's desk.

She reached her hand and took the paper from its place.

Nothing was written on both sides of paper. The object was perfect to relay her message.

She ignited the paper in violet flame as she focused her thoughts into it. Several characters burned into paper in perfect penmanship before turning into charcoal black.

Violet flame dispersed as Shirai read the contents of the letter.

After a few minutes of reading, Shirai folded the paper twice starting from the bottom half up to the upper half.

"I'm sorry, Onee-sama. But this is the only way..."

* * *

Misaka Mikoto slowly opened her eyes and blinked as she adjusted to the bright light that illuminated the room.

Today is Sunday, a free day for students. They all had the time in the day to hang out with their friends and do their usual things.

But for Mikoto, something was missing in her morning routine.

She didn't hear someone greeting her good morning other than her roommate. No one was staring above her to scold her to stop the intimidating look. Even though it was only for a few weeks, those missing parts of the routine made it not an ordinary day for her.

Mikoto stirred on her bed and slowly rose, rubbing her eyes.

"Misaka-san, did you fall asleep while doing your homework?"

She looked at Kyouko from the bathroom door, already dressed in her school uniform and ready for Judgment work.

"What are you saying? I did all of my homework before the lights were out." Mikoto said, placing her favorite stuff toy at the corner of the bed.

Kyouko eyed the folded paper at the floor, near to her roommate's bed. "There's a piece of paper lying on the floor, beside your bed."

Mikoto curiously looked at the floor and saw a paper folded twice. She reached the paper and opened it. She read the message slowly and noticed that the letter was not hand written, as if someone printed the letter somewhere.

Reaching the end of the letter, Mikoto gritted her teeth and her hands trembled after realizing who "wrote" the letter that was meant for her.

'That idiot!'

Mikoto suddenly stormed out of the room, still in her pajamas. Kyouko suddenly winced in surprise as she wondered what had gotten to her roommate to leave abruptly.

She saw the same paper flutter in mid air and land on the floor with a soft sound.

* * *

"Misaka! Stop running in the corridors!"

The dorm mistress' voice rang in her ears. She knew her dorm's manager was the rule enforcer and would not tolerate a simple unlawful action. She didn't care about the dorm mistress or the stares she received from the students around her.

All she wanted to do was to run.

Her thoughts focused on the letter she read just now. It was from Shirai. She knew they had a certain discussion yesterday and it went fine.

'Why?'

Mikoto successfully left the dormitory and went to the direction to a certain alleyway.

_To Onee-sama,_

_I just want to say thank you for saving my life a few weeks ago. I really appreciate that there are humans who are generous out there. I kept hearing from others that humans were selfish, prideful creatures. But no, it was you, Onee-sama, who changed my view against your kind._

Mikoto reached the main streets as she passed by a number of pedestrians.

_I wish I could stay longer. I really wish that I could stay here forever and leave everyone there for good. I'm disappointed it won't happen. Day by day, different youkai started to invade and had hurt a lot of people. I really pity those who had no idea of what kind of dilemma they were dealing with._

Mikoto took a sharp turn on her left and continued running, receiving stares from the people around her.

'Kuroko... why would do something reckless like that...?'

_I understood what you told me yesterday. But... I was still confused what to do; distressed about the decision of either going back and facing it on my own or just keep hiding from them as many more human beings will be involved._

_And so, tonight, I decided to follow what my mind told me to do - go back and face my punishment, even if it was unfair._

_I can't take it anymore. I've caused enough disaster for everyone who had a peaceful life. So, farewell, Onee-sama. I had a lot of fun staying here._

'No... I won't let you face it alone. It wasn't your fault for causing disaster. It was those youkai who were after you, and their creator.'

Mikoto entered the alleyway where she and Shirai first met. It was the location where her whole life changed.

_First Encounter_

"...Kuroko!"

* * *

Shirai inhaled deeply and exhaled.

She was in front of a dimensional rift that she had created with her power.

Her whole body trembled. It was not because of nervousness, but of pain. She didn't remember how many times she had inhaled and exhaled just to calm her racing heart. Ever since she opened the rift that would take her back to her world, her heart suddenly raced.

The cause was not because of fear of facing an army of youkai. The cause was that she regretted leaving Mikoto's side.

She regretted not telling what she truly felt for Mikoto.

"Haha... It's no use telling about it. I am a youkai, Onee-sama is a human. There's no way for us..."

Shirai bent forward, ready to jump into the rift. Before she could do it, a familiar voice interrupted her.

"...Kuroko!"

Shirai whirled around to see Mikoto (still in green Gekota pajamas) panting for air as she stopped a meter away from her position.

"Onee-sama..." Shirai muttered and looked down at the pavement.

"You... what were you thinking!?"

Shirai quickly looked up to Mikoto, who had finally caught her breath.

"You think that it's better to sacrifice yourself than finding out why were you accused of something foolish? What would those who are important to you think of your decision? Would they be happy? What about your parents?"

"..."

"I told you... I won't forgive those who framed you for no reason at all."

"How... how did you find me here?"

"First Encounter."

Shirai was surprised at those two words. She didn't remember putting any kind of riddle or anything cryptic of some sort. She reread the letter twice to make sure she didn't make a mistake on the letter.

"But... why?"

"Your mind only makes half of your decision. You were right about going back, but somewhere inside you didn't want you to go back and face this alone. So..." Mikoto slowly approached Shirai and held her shoulder. "Kuroko, let's do this together."

Shirai smiled broadly as the burden within her heart disappeared completely. She was so happy that no words came out. She could only nod in confirmation.

Mikoto looked at the still active dimensional rift behind Shirai. "By the way, are we going to your world that way?"

"Yes." Shirai nodded as she grabbed Mikoto's hand and jumped into the rift without any warning.

* * *

"Ajime!"

The dorm mistress barged in Room 208. She was furious that Mikoto ignored her and even ran away without even telling, or why she was still her pajamas.

"Y-Yes!"

Kyouko's head turned to the mad dorm mistress slowly like a robot. Her fear was above any other time the dorm mistress was furious about Mikoto's actions or whenever she overheard that a student was breaking the rules of the dormitory.

"Did something happen to Misaka?"

The dorm mistress may have a ruthless nature when it comes to rules to keep the students disciplined, but hidden in her demon gaze was a nurturing side. In other words, she is not a dorm mistress for nothing.

"I-I don't know... Misaka-san seemed in a hurry and didn't answer me when I asked her what was wrong."

"I see. When Misaka comes back, tell her that the two of you have a punishment waiting."

"Yes..."

* * *

Shirai and Mikoto finally arrived at the world where all youkai lived.

Its atmosphere was as dark as night. One would assume that a storm was coming or it was just a deceiving peaceful night where everyone was calm and not aware of what was happening.

"It has not changed since I escaped..." Shirai muttered as she looked around her surroundings.

"Eh? It's been like this for a long time?"

"Yes."

"Then, what are we doing here...

"HANGING OURSELVES OFF THE EDGE OF A CLIFF!?"

True to Mikoto's words, she and Shirai were hanging at the edge of a cliff. When they arrived in the world of youkai, they had the most unfortunate arrival as they first realized they were high above the ocean. They fast approached a nearby cliff and as they reached the edge, they immediately used their hands and hung themselves in the process.

"Sorry, Onee-sama." Shirai apologized as she hoisted herself up with her feet pushing against the rocks. "Somehow the location we should arrive was different. My anxiety must've affected my power..."

After Shirai successfully made it to the ground, she pulled Mikoto up, who was having difficulty as her slippers kept slipping on the rocks and her ability did not influence any non-ferric.

In front of them was a forest that would lead them somewhere. There was no sense of direction or any road to direct the wanderers.

"Let's go." Shirai said, now resolute and serious.

"Yeah." Mikoto nodded as they ran thru the forest.

Both human and youkai did not have the time to stop and look out for anyone suspicious. As long as they were hidden in the forest and moving from one place to another, they're safe.

That was until someone threw a banana peel at the back of Shirai's head.

Shirai abruptly stopped at the insolent act.

Mikoto also stopped and looked at Shirai in confusion. "What's wrong, Kuroko?"

"Someone just threw a banana peel behind me."

"O-o, ah-ah!"

Both girls turned around to see a monkey sitting on a tree branch. It suddenly jumped and clapped its hands above head level.

But before they could react, the monkey suddenly yelled in a very loud voice. It alerted them that there was someone else in the area.

"Shh...!" Shirai tried to calm the monkey down, but it was no use as the said animal was still making sounds. She hoped that no one was around to hear the racket.

That hope vanished as they heard something clank far away.

They did not know from which direction it came from. After a few seconds, they started to hear an object falling in their direction.

Shirai reacted first and grabbed Mikoto's arm and leap away from their spot.

A large rock as tall as the trees landed at their previous spot and shook the ground so violently upon impact that Mikoto and Shirai had to lean on a tree near them for balance.

After the ground calmed, the two girls ran away from the rock and the monkey, who immediately reacted and continued to make annoying monkey cries as he chased them from the tree branches.

Another clank reverberated 10 kilometers away. A large rock barely missed them as it landed a millimeter away from their backs. Both girls lost their balance and sat on all fours as the ground shook violently for the second time.

They did not know who was using a catapult nor how many catapults were there. All they knew was the monkey was trailing them to discern their location so that the attackers could accurately fire their bullet.

Mikoto looked at the monkey as she narrowed her expression. The monkey played on the branch like a trampoline from the circus. The monkey finally sat and stop playing with it, staring at the other with a blank expression.

'This monkey... it only reacts to movement. If that's the case...'

Mikoto bent forward, sinking into her battle stance, her gaze at the youkai didn't leave. The monkey suddenly stiffened his body as he readied himself. Mikoto sharply took a step forward.

The monkey reacted to the movement and sharply jumped at Mikoto.

It was his grave mistake.

Sparks started to form on Mikoto's forehead and fired a lightning spear at the monkey who took the hit directly. The monkey's nerves started to twitch in an abnormal manner as the electricity surrounded his body and landed on his back.

"O-Ooooooo!"

His voice was forced as the electricity continued to torture his body, convulsing in response. The voice he let out had the same loudness.

Another reverberation in the air.

Mikoto and Shirai immediately ran away from the scene as another rock fell from their last spot. It was the third time the ground shook violently.

"Onee-sama, what was that all about?" Shirai asked as she looked at Mikoto.

"It's just to shut the monkey." Mikoto replied. "But we need to get out of here sooner or that annoying youkai will look for us again."

* * *

Gen'ou and other golden samurais waited for another cry of the monkey he entrusted to.

Gen'ou was about to ask permission from the higher ups when a familiar presence lingered within him. The traitor came back after realizing how many human beings were involved in their affair. He was against involving humans at first, but with Kamakiri's persuasion, he gave up and allowed him to interfere with humans' everyday life.

It was thanks to Kamakiri that the traitor he had waited for so long came back.

If only Kamakiri was alive he could give him a bigger prize.

They were in a large clearing of a heavily forested area in order to not disrupt the momentum of the rocks they kept firing. They could see how dark the sky was.

It's been a few minutes after that monkey last cried for the location. He noticed that the cry was forced and long.

"What was Saru taking so long?"

A youkai who was in charge for releasing the rope of the first catapult asked, and judging by his tone, it was more appropriate on complaining.

"Gen'ou-sama, if Saru still had not responded this long, maybe he was...-"

"Oh, no. I can still feel Saru's presence. I know when my precious youkai dies."

Gen'ou's voice was calm as ever. It was the perfect tone to hide his true intentions. If only the traitor he had waited showed up, the job would have been done much sooner.

* * *

Mikoto and Shirai noticed that they were not being chased by the monkey. They briskly walked in the depths of the forest without worrying that any youkai who were spying on them.

They got out of the trees and saw a stretch of land 5 kilometer in diameter. Several tents were scattered around with several campfires in front of the tents.

An old man, appropriate for his age of 90 due to his being form, went out of the tent as a young youkai, in the form of a 10 year old boy held a pail that contained fish.

The old man noticed two newcomers in the vicinity and looked at them.

The two girls saw something behind the youkai's eyes.

Longing.

"I've been waiting for you to arrive, heiress."

* * *

**A/N:** And so, it's time to travel to another world... or dimension.

It's time to deliver good news and bad news. The good news is, only a few chapters left and the arc is finally done (and more to come). The bad news is, I have few weeks left for vacation and it's time to go back to school again! Such misfortune!

So, expect slower updates from June to half of October. If I'm lucky, I could still update regularly. If I get a lot of homework, well, updates are going to be slow. College could be hell if I don't really get my act up.

I'm going to revise Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 5. Only chapter 5 gets additional scenes, other than that, only fixes. Expect one chapter one revised chapter.

Though I'm not going to force this to anyone, I would appreciate a few reviews.

Credits to werewolf2005 for beta reading the chapter~


	10. Shi - Death

"What... what do you mean?"

Was the first thing that Shirai cried out.

The old man kept his gaze on the two (more specifically on Shirai). His eyes never changed expression.

"You will be the one to save our kingdom." The old man said.

As Mikoto and Shirai heard this, it felt like time stopped for a moment. Not only did they not know who the old man was, but also this stranger was declaring something big.

"Umm... we don't know what you're talking about." Shirai said, still confused of the old man's declaration.

"How about I tell you a story?" The old man suggested. He turned around and looked at the younger boy of 10 years of age still holding the pail that contained at least 5 fish.

"Kotarou, please prepare a campfire."

"Got it."

Mikoto and Shirai noticed that Kotarou's voice was sour. Something within his voice sounded reluctant when he saw them. They also noticed that ever since the old man talked to them, he had already put up a bitter expression.

They looked at each other in wonder: at the old man and the boy with him. Hoping the old man will give them enough information of their enemy, they walked towards the nearest tent.

* * *

Ajime Kyouko walked towards the direction of 177th Judgment Branch office.

She recalled what happened in the dormitory earlier. To respect Mikoto's privacy, she did not read the contents of the letter (even if she wanted to out of curiosity).

This was similar to when Mikoto was always out late at night. Kyouko did not know what kind of burden her roommate was carrying, but she could only support her indirectly.

Except this time, she partially knew what was happening around her: youkai invading Academy City just for a single fugitive who was hiding from them for weeks just for a false accusation.

As far as she remembered yesterday, Mikoto received no letters from anyone, not even her admirers. She also remembered no one asked her a favor to give a letter for her roommate, so it was not an option it was from someone she knew from Tokiwadai.

If that letter was from one of her friends, they could have just given her a message.

Thinking deep down, Kyouko remembered that Mikoto always had a youkai accompanying her. Since no one can see or hear that youkai apart from Mikoto, Shirai Kuroko could have just told her companion without anyone else hearing what she was saying.

But, she was not the one to judge what exactly happened or who wrote the letter that made Mikoto leave the room so suddenly.

Still, she wished for Mikoto and the youkai to have good luck.

She arrived at the office and opened the door. While Kyouko closed the door with a soft click, she scanned her eyes around the room and saw Uiharu busily typing on her desktop.

"Uiharu-san?"

Uiharu Kazari turned her chair around and saw Kyouko walking towards her. "Good morning, Ajime-san."

"Good morning. What's for today's duty?"

Uiharu spun the chair back and typed on the keyboard. "Umm... Nothing unusual. Also, there haven't been cases about possession lately."

Kyouko widened her eyes as soon as she heard about it. "Really? What happened?"

"I don't know, but the number of cases have decreased to 2 compared to before."

"That's... surprising."

Perhaps it wasn't just a coincidence that the rate of possessions decreased and that Mikoto was angry at something in the letter.

'It feels like what happened this morning and the current state of the case are connected...'

Kyouko couldn't put her finger on it, but she had a hunch.

She remembered what Shirai had told everyone a few days ago. They received important details about what they were dealing with and how there was a world other than the one that humans currently live in. If the youkai lived in a different world, then they had means of crossing into the human world.

'If that was the case, then the letter was from Shirai Kuroko. Misaka-san must have left the dormitory because the letter must have been a farewell letter since the youkai was going to return to her world, and thus the other youkai who came here returned when someone had told them the fugitive is back in their world.'

"But, why was the letter delivered instead?"

Uiharu turned her head towards Kyouko. "...Ajime-san?"

"Ah, no, nothing! I was just thinking something!" Kyouko jerked up and quickly diverted her thoughts to another topic. "Oh yeah, last night you told me that you were supposed to be with Saten-san today, right?"

Uiharu sighed at the mention of their upbeat friend. "Saten-san is currently with Haruue-san. I'm more worried about Haruue-san, though."

"Well, Saten-san won't give up anytime an urban legend is involved... Now that I think about it, since we can worry less about the case, what should we do?"

"...How about tea?"

* * *

"It still haven't detected a single youkai!"

Saten Ruiko yelled in annoyance as she looked at the screen of the device she had been holding.

She and Haruue Erii were walking on the streets after they searched a lot of places. They searched from their own school, to a dark alleyway, to game center, to random local shops and even a garbage chute.

"Saten-san... we might as well stop this..." Haruue said wearily, embarrassed and tired as she walked behind Saten.

"No! I won't until this detector detects one!"

Haruue was not sure if she was going to be worried or react differently to the other's antics. She did not have any interest in Academy City's urban legends and wondered why was it created in a scientific city.

Shortly after, they reached the park. Saten her legs felt heavy and hurt with each passing step. She noticed an unoccupied bench and quickly secured it, Haruue soon followed her.

"Man, it's barely afternoon and I'm really tired!" Saten stretched her arms upward as she leaned her back in the bench.

"Is looking for spirits really interesting?" Haruue asked, looking at Saten curiously.

"Of course! For someone like me who doesn't have any ability, it's my hobby!" Saten replied with enthusiasm as she sharply turned to Haruue.

"But, isn't that dangerous?"

"Not all urban legends are dangerous. Some are weird and some are fun!"

"Like when you almost got caught by the delinquents when you were searching for cash cards?"

"..."

Saten felt like a 10 metric ton anvil dropped on her head as she remembered how she was chased by thugs because of her passion.

"W-Well! This time it won't happen the same again! We can ask Misaka-san if-

Saten abruptly stopped as soon as she mentioned a certain person's name.

"Saten-san?"

The long haired girl immediately grabbed her phone from her pocket, tapping several times before she reached the call button on Mikoto's phone number.

Saten placed her phone beside her ear as she received several ringing tones. Soon, she heard a different tone, like someone had lifted the landline.

"Ah, Misaka-sa-

_The number you dialed cannot be reached. Please try again._

Saten slowly removed the phone and looked at the screen, displaying her background of choice.

* * *

Mikoto, Shirai, Kotarou and the old man circled around the campfire. As they waited for the fire to be hot enough to cook the fish, they stabbed sticks into the fish from the tail to the gaping mouth.

The old man looked up at the dark sky, with grief in his eyes. "This incident started when the 8th emperor ruled the kingdom, Konoe."

Mikoto and Shirai perked up in interest as they listened attentively.

"He was a great leader. He helped so many youkai and would leave his palace often in order to help the common citizen. You could say he was passionate about keeping the kingdom safe and peaceful.

"Then one day, he started to feel dissatisfied with his actions of helping everyone. Realizing his desires, he sought to conquer lesser kingdoms for power, and so he started to train and create the strongest soldiers so that his enemies would quickly surrender."

"If that happened, then there should have been surviving soldiers until now, right?" Shirai inquired.

"But it was stopped," the old man answered, "Inari-sama did not like his decision."

"Then, what happened to him?"

"Inari-sama punished him. She stripped him of his status and sent him to Yomi. He was replaced by his daughter."

Shirai looked down in sorrow. "Who was my mother..."

"Yes." The old man nodded. "She was able to lead the kingdom for a few decades, until she married a commoner named Shirai Gen'ou. Inari-sama had the ability to turn a commer to a kitsune. A few years later the empress retired from her position and let her husband take the position since she was pregnant with you." He said as he looked at the downcast Shirai.

He added, "But decades later, your mother was killed by none other than... Gen'ou."

Shirai felt her heartbeat stop for an instant and felt a cold pit in her stomach as she realized who the true culprit was.

Mikoto was surprised about it as well - for a different reason. If they lived a life so comfortable, there should be no reason for a spouse to hurt each other, much less resorting to violent crime such as murder.

The old man continued, as if they were waiting for the truth of a certain case. "30 years ago, Gen'ou had the feeling that someone else was living within him, like he had a personality disorder; Until one time he lost control of himself. That "someone" took over his body and started to go berserk until he saw that woman; he killed her by a severe impalement with his hands. It was too late when Gen'ou regained control of himself."

"W-Why did my father keep it from me..." Shirai whispered, enough for the other three to hear her. That event was horrible to even recall, but what made it worse was that the true culprit was someone from her family.

"He wanted to protect you." The old man answered calmly. "I was his close friend at the time. We met each other when I was having difficulty carrying the vegetables back to my house since Kotarou had other errands to do."

"Though," Kotarou interjected, "you could have told me."

"I would have, if I did not forget about it."

"You really don't have to push yourself..." Kotarou muttered, disheartened.

"It's fine." The old man said. "As I was saying, I was really lucky to meet Gen'ou for the first time..."

_"Don't you have someone to help you?" Gen'ou asked worriedly, deeply concerned__for__the old man._

_They were both__walking in the broad sunlight in a small village._

_Around them were adult youkai walking slowly. Child youkai were running about with their fellow friends as they play together._

_"My grandson had errands to do; but I forgot to tell him about this. His parents were out for work." The old man replied._

_"You could have waited for them." Gen'ou suggested._

_"If I did, the vegetables would wither. After all, I'm still a strong old man."_

_The old man stretched his back, which caused to sound several pops from his spine._

_Gen'ou sweatdropped. "I don't think I__would__take it as__being__strong..." He muttered, chuckling._

_"I heard that, your majesty."_

_"...! S-Sorry."_

_The old man laughed at Gen'ou's quick apology. "You don't have to. I've been around for a few centuries and a lot of youkai still comment on my strength."_

_They arrived at the his house. He slid the front door and entered, with Gen'ou following and__placing__down a basket of vegetables on the floor._

_"Thank you very much, your majesty."_

_Gen'ou placed a hand at the back of his head and grinned. "It's my pleasure as the emperor of the kingdom. And please call me Gen'ou. I don't want to feel I'm above all others."_

_"Gen'ou-sama would be a better preference." The old man commented._

_Gen'ou felt a shiver ran down his spine as he heard a more honorable suffix. "Please, not that. Formality is not my style."_

_"From someone who was a commoner before leading a kingdom, I understand. How do you feel about it, when you're also raising an heiress?"_

_"It wasn't easy. She gets too stubborn in doing things she can't handle on her own; scolding__doesn't__help either. As for__ruling__, sometimes it's stressful, sometimes it's interesting. My thoughts about it are too mixed."_

_"Are you happy?"_

_"...Yes?"_

_"Are you happy that of all the youkai living in this kingdom, you were given the responsibility to lead it? A lot of commoner were jealous of you during the coronation."_

_"Well, I'm really happy about it. If I remember correctly, there used to be a commoner who__also__became the emperor, correct?"_

_"Yes, but he had the shortest span, for only about 30 years."_

_"That's pretty short." Gen'ou said deadpanned. "Oh yeah, I need to go now. I have to get back to the palace for a meeting."_

_"Best regards to you. Thank you for helping me... Gen'ou."_

"Ehh~ what a great father and emperor." Mikoto commented as she admired Shirai's father's act.

However, that complement did not make Shirai feel any better. In fact, it made her feel worse. She was still shocked at how her own father could kill his wife so easily. She remembered they did not have any problems when they were still together.

But what was the reason he killed her?

The old man continued his story, "As days passed, I started to see him often. Usually picking out fruits, helping his fellow youkai, and the like.

"Until there was the time that a murderer went on a killing spree. There were no witnesses as the crimes would always happen at night. A few months later, Gen'ou trusted me enough to tell me it was his fault for all the murders that were happening: also confessing for the murder of his wife. He also told me something grave..."

_The old man saw Gen'ou sitting at the river. He went to the kitsune emperor's side and sat beside him._

_"Am I... bad?" was the first thing that Gen'ou spoke._

_"I don't think so." The old man replied as he looked beyond the horizon. "You are a great emperor who__has__led the kingdom for the better. Why do you ask?"_

_It took Gen'ou for a moment to reply, "Actually, I have something to tell you. We've been seeing each other for some time, so I guess I can entrust__you with this__."_

_"Go on."_

_The emperor hung his head as he forced himself to tell his thoughts. "Konoe... has returned."_

_The old man's heart sank as he heard a terrible news. "Are you sure about that? Once a youkai__has__been punished and__banished__to__Yomi, they remain there forever! That place is guarded by Izanami to make sure no one gets out!"_

_"__That's__true..." Gen'ou said softly as he raised his head up, looking at the horizon. "He... he's inside me. I don't know how he escaped, but I saw him one time while I was in the forest, looking for fruits. His only form was an enigma that I couldn't depict; and he entered within me."_

_"I fear for the worst." The old man said, his voice frail as he shook his head. "Is there any way for you to extract him?"_

_"I wish. But the moment he entered my body, it felt like I was whole.__It__did not feel weird or conflict within me. I couldn't feel his presence."_

_"If that's the case, then..."_

_Gen'ou nodded without even thinking about what he was going to say. "Yeah. I must be killed, no matter what."_

_There was a mutual silence between them as Gen'ou declared__what__should have been his fear. His voice did not even falter. It's as if it was something he could accept easily._

_"To everyone's' eyes, they'll immediately accuse me as the murderer. But to me, it was that wicked emperor who only wants his title back."_

_The old man couldn't react at how serious Gen'ou became when he described Konoe's way of regaining his rights._

_"What was his reason?" He inquired._

_"I've been encountering dreams about it, but the only thing I__remember is__he__wants__Inari-sama to show up and take back what must be his. After all, he couldn't completely control my body. He can only control my body when I'm asleep._

_"Then I realized that Konoe killed my wife... just to call out Inari-sama. I had to__cover it up__by saying it was an accident. I tried my best to make her not look like an idiot, but still..."_

_The old man was troubled. He believed that Yomi was a__secure__place that no one can leave__in order__to punish those who were destroying the peace and order of their world forever. Konoe could not just leave freely without the aid of someone who had the power to enter that gloomy place (as normal youkai would not be able to handle the strong emotion entering them)._

_"Have you told your daughter about this?" He asked._

_Gen'ou's heart sank as if he regretted that he lied to her. "No... I want to protect her, from myself. And, I don't think it's the right time... yet."_

"Umm... I have a question..."

The old man looked at Mikoto.

"Why didn't Inari... sama show up at all when that Konoe guy was busy murdering youkai?"

"In this world, just like yours, the gods in the heavens don't show up for any reason at all. They, perhaps, are testing our strength to survive. Perhaps, our will to go on could be tested." The old man said as he looked at Shirai, who was still not looking up and settled to listen to how this incident started - from just one greedy emperor.

He added, "Also, there's a reason why this kingdom is the third smallest. The fifth empress, in turn that Inari-sama had agreed, did not find any benefit in expanding the kingdom. I do not know the full details of the agreement as I have only read it somewhere. That's why any ruler of the kingdom who opposed to that agreement shall be punished by Inari-sama herself."

Kotarou, who was silent throughout the story telling after he scolded his grandfather, looked down at the campfire to check on the fish.

He was not amused.

"With all the talk we had, our food turned into a charcoal."

"..."

The other three looked at the fire at the middle and saw four burnt fish around it. The tail part crumbled into pieces and fell to the ground.

"Seriously, if you two didn't arrive we wouldn't have to waste our catch." Kotarou huffed in annoyance.

"Hey! It's not our fault that we came here!" Mikoto retorted in defense.

Both human and youkai continued bickering as the old man calmly stood up and went to the tent, grabbing a wooden cane. He went back from the campfire and slammed the cane onto Kotarou and Mikotos' heads in quick succession.

"Ow!"

"Ouch!"

They winced as they held the top of their heads with both of their hands in pain.

"Your bickering only caused us to waste more time." The old man scolded calmly.

Mikoto slightly recovered from the pain, rubbing her sore head and looked at the old man. "To make things short, where is the palace?"

"The heiress will accompany you to that place." The old man replied. "Please excuse Kotarou's distrust. He's having a hard time right now."

"Grandpa!" Kotarou yelled. "You don't have to tell them!"

"What if they attacked these two and killed without meaning to?"

"...They?" Mikoto repeated.

"Kotarou's parents." The old man replied sadly. "They were caught up by Konoe's wickedness. Now they are acting against their own will."

"..."

Another reason to avoid the youkai, Mikoto thought. Dealing with the monkey youkai was enough of a problem for them as he could make a loud noise and attract his fellow youkai and attack them from a far distance.

They could deal with them later, at least until the source of everything was dealt with.

Mikoto felt a hand held on hers and looked at Shirai, who was now wearing a determined expression.

"Let's go, Onee-sama."

"...Kuroko?"

"We just can't sit here waiting for another youkai to attack us. The sooner we go to the palace, the sooner we can finish this."

"...Yeah." Mikoto nodded and looked around the vicinity. "Looks like the monkey youkai won't be seeing us soon."

"What's with that name calling?"

Mikoto and Shirai turned to look at Koutarou, who was giving them an annoyed expression.

"Humans are really this disrespectful. Calling the heiress by her name, don't you know that you can't call the noble unless they- OW!"

The old man lifted his cane from Kotarou's head and said, "Their name calling is none of your business. You don't know what kind of journey they went through."

Kotarou placed his hand on his sore spot, rubbing it. "Sorry." He apologized.

Shirai stood up from her position. "Well then, it's time for us to go."

"Good luck with your journey to stop Konoe once and for all." The old man said. "Inari-sama's power is always within you."

* * *

Mikoto and Shirai arrived at the palace in silence.

It was a two storey traditional Japanese manor mostly made from wood. Normally for the manor where the leader of the kingdom lived, guards were assigned to alert of a visitor or to prevent the assassination of the leader. In minimum, the leader assigns six to twelve guards.

They went inside and found it was very dark. It was very hard for them to see what was inside or if it was disordered. But since this didn't matter for their current objective, Shirai sprinted to the room at the left, with Mikoto following the sounds of her footsteps.

As they entered the room, Shirai took a sharp turn to the right and went up the stairs.

Loud thumps reverberated within the house as Shirai and Mikoto sprinted towards the door to the throne room. Shirai slid the door and went in only to realize that she did not feel any presence or notice anyone else sitting on the chair at the middle of the room. It was as if someone set a trap against them that could be activated anytime.

"...No one's here."

Shirai said sharply, looking around the room for anything in every nook and cranny. Sadly, she didn't find any as the room was still the same the last time she saw it.

Suddenly, four candles around the corners of the room lit in a small flame, illuminating the whole vicinity.

"You think that no one else was in this room? Too bad, I got here before you. Saru was taking a long time searching for you, so I told them to hold on and I went back here."

A cold, deep voice penetrated Shirai and Mikoto's ears as shivers went down their spines. The door on the other side of the throne room across from them opened slowly as it revealed Gen'ou's form. Shirai was surprised to see a distinct change in her father's appearance. His white tails were now black. His sclera became black and the cornea of his eyes became golden as opposed to the white sclera and gentle auburn eyes.

"So, this is... Gen... no, Konoe..." Mikoto muttered, facing towards the mastermind of the incident.

"Ohh~ So you're the human that Tora and Kamakiri were talking about. A human who had a power similar to Raijin. You must be pretty strong to get this far protecting the heiress, even if you didn't know what was happening." Konoe said playfully.

His attention shifted to Shirai as he looked at her. "Forget my soldiers calling you a traitor, it's only a cover for my true intentions. I need you to call Inari!"

The atmosphere suddenly felt thick as Konoe yelled his last statement.

"If Inari can't be bothered by a murderer using the emperor's body, I guess killing the next ruler of the kingdom will make her appear and grant my wish."

All for just a single wish. It was too much preparation just to call a god. It had taken more than a decade for his plan to come into fruition.

Both Mikoto and Shirai knew what his wish was; to get his body back and rule the kingdom once again so he could expand the land. According to the old man, he was the first to do such a feat after the agreement was made.

"Is your wish really worth granting?" Mikoto asked, her voice shaking in anger.

"What do you know, human? Change is needed! This kingdom can't just remain the third smallest forever! We need to expand to stop the larger kingdoms looking us down!"

Konoe bent forward, clenching his right fist as it ignited into black flames, and leapt towards Mikoto and Shirai, who only sprinted away from him. He landed on the wooden floor and looked behind him to see Shirai sinking into her battle stance and Mikoto's body started to emit electricity.

Shirai pushed her feet forward towards Konoe and thrust her palm at his chest, but he blocked it by raising his right arm against the palm. Using this opportunity, Shirai twisted her body and held Konoe's arm as she raised her right leg, aiming the heel at his cheek.

But, Konoe was able to see through the continued attack and used his left hand to stop the leg, throwing her off balance as her left foot trembled. Shirai reacted quickly and quickly stomped her right foot onto the floor before she could fall.

Mikoto launched a lightning spear at Konoe, but Konoe avoided the attack by leaning slightly to the side. Regaining his composure, Konoe charged at Mikoto with lightning speed.

Konoe was faster than Mikoto's reaction time. He slid his right foot a few millimeters away from her. Using the momentum he gained from his foot, he used his other foot and twisted his body; with his left foot ready, he kicked Mikoto before she could even react to his attack with force, sending her flying and hit the wall.

"Onee-sama!"

Konoe turned to look at Shirai, who only spreaded her nine tails, conjured violet flames from each tip and hurled it at him. He countered it with his flame. Both flames came into contact and exploded mid-air.

He approached her slowly. Shirai kept her battle stance up as she prepared herself for his next move.

But when he was finally in front of her, he only grabbed the collar of her yukata.

"W-What are you..."

Before Shirai could even finish her sentence, he pulled the collar and threw her further from Mikoto's range.

Mikoto's body trembled from the impact she received from Konoe's kick. She was at a great disadvantage as there was nothing magnetic around the room.

She slowly stood up, and looked at Konoe who was approaching her. Placing her hand in her pocket, she thought of using her signature attack in order to - at least - damage him.

But after discovering that her pockets were empty, she realized that she didn't bring any arcade coins on their way to this world. Since no one would attack her when she was sleeping in her dorm, it was not necessary to put coins in nightwear. If by some fluke someone did try to attack her at while she was in her dorm, the terrifying entity known as the Dorm Manager would take care of it.

Konoe was soon in front of Mikoto. He ignited his hand with black flame, clenched his fist, and thrusted his fist at her.

Mikoto leap to the side as the fist connected to the wall of the room.

Still recovering, Mikoto electrified her hand and fired a lightning spear at Konoe, who simply dodged the attack.

Konoe stiffened his legs and charged at current his target. He readied his ignited fist and prepared to perform an uppercut. With the right momentum, he slammed his left foot forward and thrust his arm upward at Mikoto, aiming for her jaw.

Seeing through the attack, Mikoto turns her head to the side, avoiding his attack by an inch. Using this close contact, she uses this opportunity to generate electricity on her hand and place it on Konoe's chest, releasing a large voltage of electricity.

"...G-Guuaaaahhh!"

Electricity ran through his chest and spread throughout his body, immobilizing his movement.

Shirai slowly stood up as she recovered from her throbbing back pain. She looked for Mikoto and saw her back away from Konoe, who was still spasming from the shock he received.

But Shirai knew that Konoe would not be felled by such an attack (even though it could potentially kill any full sized man).

Konoe spread his arms outward, dispersing the electricity, that was torturing him, away from his body.

"You think such flimsy attacks would injure me at all?" Konoe taunted as he sank back into his battle stance.

Mikoto gritted her teeth.

'So not even a surge of high voltage electricity can incapacitate him?' She thought grimly as sweat dripped from her temple.

Konoe grinned evilly as he turned his body into black flames.

The flames of a kitsune allow the caster to change the properties of things.

It could make something sharper without modifying the physical object, could handle an attack that would hurt them, or even could cast illusions.

Out of instinct, Mikoto launched an electric spear from her forehead, directed at the burning form of Konoe, but it only went past him.

"...Kh!"

As the distance between them decreased, Mikoto stepped backward to get ready to dodge, but it was too late as Konoe had returned back to his normal form and thrusted his burning hand at Mikoto's chest.

Shirai reacted immediately by reaching for Mikoto in order to push her out of the way.

But it was too late as Konoe had already impaled his igniting hand into Mikoto's chest.

It felt like time had stopped within the room as Shirai froze on the spot, horrified at what she saw Konoe just do.

Mikoto felt light and started to lose perception of her surroundings. And soon, it all faded to black.

* * *

**A/N**: Sorry for the late release! School's up and I have to do all the homework that the professors dump us. Sigh.

Because I love my readers and followers, this story is still my priority even when I have a lot of homework to do.

Mikoto's plot armor? Nope. It's no fun when only the antagonist dies.

What I have been up to? During the final days of May, I made friends with some Japanese people in pixiv. I took the opportunity to comment so I could practice my unused Japanese skills. Not that I'm bragging.

So, If you're interested, look for aizmayune on Twitter and leave a follow.

Credits to werewolf2005 for having the patience to beta read and also the patience to wait for me to send the rewrite.


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